Judy Napangardi Watson (b. c1935, d. 2016) was a leading Warlpiri artist whose richly coloured paintings of the Women’s Dreaming story from Mina Mina are dynamic images of a powerful ceremonial site in the Tanami Desert. Born at Yarungkanji, Mt. Doreen Station, she grew up in a traditional nomadic culture, with her family making many trips on foot to her ancestral country on the border of the Tanami and Gibson Deserts. She lived for long periods at Mina Mina and Yingipurlangu, places rich in bush tucker such as wanakiji (bush plums), yakajirri (bush tomatoes) and wardapi (sand goanna), and learned about painting from her elder sister, the noted artist Maggie Napangardi Watson. Her dynamic use of colour put her at the forefront of a move towards abstracted renderings of Jukurrpa by Warlpiri artists, however her paintings retained strong kurruwarri, the details which tell of the sacredness of place and song in her culture.
Napangardi Watson is represented in major national, state and university art galleries in Australia and overseas such as the National Gallery of Australia; Art Gallery of NSW; Berndt Museum of Anthropology, WA; South Australian Museum; Aboriginal Art Museum, Utrecht; and the Kelton Foundation, Santa Monica, USA. In 2007 she was listed as one of the 50 most collectable artists by the Australian Art Collector Magazine.
