Punyanita - Lucy Yukenbarri Napanangka

This screenprint depicts country far to the south of Balgo, in the Great Sandy Desert. This country is centred around a tjurrnu, or soakwater called Punyanita. This is also good country for collecting certain bush foods: in particular, ngralukutu (bush coconut), and munyun (a seed for making flour for damper) are found here. (Warlayarti Artists)
Lucy Yukenbarri (c.1934-2003) was one of Balgo's foremost artists. A senior custodian with a vast knowledge of the waterholes in the Great Sandy Desert, Lucy began painting for Warlayirti Artists in 1989. She developed her own style of close-knit dotting called 'kintikinti', an aesthetic also favoured by her husband Helicopter Tjungurrayi who collaborated with her on many canvases during the early stages of Balgo's painting movement. Another innovation was her use of bold colours - black, blue, and green - to depict waterhole sites.
Lucy described herself as a 'wild one' in her youth, running away from ceremonial business into the bush, and embarking on long walks from the desert to the mission. Lucy's first and only solo exhibition was held at Alcaston Gallery in Melbourne in 1999, although she participated in many Balgo group shows, and major survey exhibitions of Aboriginal art, such as 'Power of the Land: Masterpieces of Aboriginal Art' at the National Gallery of Victoria. Lucy's paintings belong to collections such as Artbank, National Gallery of Australia, Canberra and The Holmes a Court Collection, Perth. Lucy is survived
by her daughter, Christine Yukenbarri, who is also an artist.