Cherylyn Napangardi Granites Warlpiri, b. 1974

Cherylyn Napangardi Granites was born in 1983 in Alice Springs Hospital, the closest hospital to Yuendumu, a remote Aboriginal community located 290 km from Alice Springs in the Northern Territory of Australia. She has grown up most of her life in Yuendumu. First attending the local school in Yuendumu, and then Kormilda College, an Aboriginal boarding college in Darwin and finally attending the local Yuendumu High School to finish her schooling. Since leaving school she worked for several years, on and off, as a video and radio broadcaster for PAW Media and Communication, a remote Aboriginal media organization situated at Yuendumu. Chantelle has one daughter, Naomi, born in 2000. Cherylyn has been painting with Warlukurlangu Artists Aboriginal Corporation, an Aboriginal owned and governed art centre located in Yuendumu, since 2005. She paints the Yunkaranyi Jukurrpa (Honey Ant Dreaming), Mina Mina Jukurrpa (Country Dreaming) and Janynki Jukurrpa, stories about country close to Yuendumu. These stories have been passed down from her father’s side and his father’s side for millennia and relate directly to her land, its features and the plants and animals that inhabit it. “I like painting. I like to keep my culture strong. I watched my grandmother, my father’s mother, paint and now when I’m painting it makes me happy, it reminds me of her.” When Cherylyn is not painting she keeps herself busy by cleaning the house and spending time with her family. “We all live close together”.