About Debbie Brown Napaltjarri
Debbie was born in Yuendumu. She grew up in Nyirrpi, and did most of her schooling there, although she spent several years boarding at Yirrara College in Alice Springs. When she returned to Nyirripi she worked at the store as well as helping to care for old people. In 2010 Debbie moved to Yuendumu, 160 km east of Nyirripi, with her husband and son Jarvis to be closer to her husband’s family.
She works for the Women’s Centre, cooking lunches for the kids at school. Debbie has been painting with Warlukurlangu Artists Aboriginal Corporation, an Aboriginal-owned and governed art centre located in Yuendumu, since 2006. Her Grandmother, Margaret Napangardi Brown, also an artist with the art centre, taught her to paint. Her Grandfather is the renowned Pintupi artist Pegleg Tjampitjinpa who was born c.1920 and grew up in the vicinity of Wilkinkarra, living a traditional life. Debbie would watch her grandmother and grandfather paint and listen to her Grandmother’s Jukurrpa or Dreaming stories.
In her paintings, Debbie paints her father’s Jukurrpa, Dreamings which relate directly to her land, its features, plants, and animals. These stories were passed down to her by her grandmother and her mother and their parents before them for millennia. and lives at Nyrripi. The community is located approximately 440 km from Alice Springs via the Tanami Highway. She is the granddaughter of Peg Leg Tjampitjinpa. She paints at Yuendumu and in Alice Springs.