Walangkura Napanangka was born about 1940 in the bush at Tjiturulnga, west of Walungurru (Kintore) - in the Gibson Desert, near the Western Australia/ Northern Territory border. Her family was amongst a group of Pintupi people who made their way to the Ikuntji settlement (Haasts Bluff) in 1956. They walked hundreds of kilometres from west of the salt lake of Karrkurutinjinya (Lake Macdonald) to access the supplies of food and water on offer at the settlement. The family returned to their homelands community of Walungurru in 1981.

Walangkura now resides in Kintore with her husband and fellow artist Johnny Yungut Tjupurrula. Her mother, Inyuwa Nampitjinpa and sister, Pirrmangka Napanangka, both deceased were also painters. Her father was Tutuma Tjapangati.

Walangkura began her painting career through participating in the historic Kintore-Haasts Bluff collaborative canvas project 'Minyma Tjukurrpa' in 1995. Her paintings exude a powerful energy, recreating the creation stories and ceremonial sites associated with the Tjukurrpa of her Pintupi homelands.

Selected Exhibitions:

1997 - 2002 Araluen Arts Centre, Alice Springs 1998 'Sztuka Aborygenow' - (Art of the Aborigines), Warsaw, Poland
1999 Flinders Art Museum, Flinders University, Adelaide
2001 Pintupi, Alice Springs
2000 Papunya Tula: Genesis and Genius at the Art Gallery of NSW
2001 Dreamscapes - Contemporary Desert Art, Mostings Hus, Frederiksberg, Denmark
2003 Mythology and Reality, S.H Ervin Gallery, Sydney
2003 Solo Exhibition - Gallery Gabrielle Pizzi, Melbourne
2005 Across Skin - Women Artists of the Western Desert, Japingka Gallery, Fremantle

Collections:

Art Gallery of NSW
National Gallery of Australia
Artbank, Sydney
The Kelton Foundation, Los Angeles, USA.