Agnes Nampijinpa Brown Warlpiri, b. 1973

Agnes Nampitjnpa BrownBorn: 1973 Language: Warlpiri Region: Nyirripi, Yuendumu, Western Desert, NT

“I like painting the designs of my country, they are colourful and uplifting and they make me think about my Father. He used to tell me his stories when I was a little girl.” Agnes Nampijinpa Brown was born in 1973 in Nyirripi, a remote Aboriginal community approximately 450 km north-west of Alice Springs in the NT of Australia. She spends her time living between Nyirripi and Yuendumu, an Aboriginal community located 160 km south-east of Nyirripi. Both her parents are deceased. Agnes attended the Yuendumu School, finishing Year 12. She then returned to Nyirripi where she worked at the store. Agnes stopped working when she married. She has two daughters and one son. She is also a grandmother and has two grandkids, a boy and a girl. She worked for the Aged Care Program in Nyirripi for several years but gave it up to focus on her family and on her painting. Agnes has been working with the Warlukurlangu Artists Aboriginal Corporation, an Aboriginal owned and governed art centre at Yuendumu, since 2007. She paints her father’s Jukurrpa stories, the Yankirri Jukurrpa (Emu Dreaming) and the Pamapardu Jukurrpa (Flying Ant Dreaming) that relate directly to her father’s country around Mikanji, found west of Yuendumu and Walungurru south-west of Nyirripi. These stories have been passed down over the generations for Millennia. Agnes lives with her family and loves painting.