Born: c. 1958

Language: Pintupi

Region: Haast Bluff & Papunya

Narpula Scobie Napurrula was born near Haasts Bluff in 1950. The family moved to
around Papunya and then later to Kintore. Narpula’s parents were Toba Tjakamarra
and Nganyima Napaltjarri, and her brother was the late great artist Turkey Tolson
Tjupurrula and her half-sister, the late great Mitjili Napurrula. Both are represented
in the National Gallery of Australia and many other public institutions.

Initially Narpula assisted with the background painting for her husband, Johnny
Scobie Tjapanangka, a founding Papunya Tula artist, in the early 1970s before she
began painting independently in 1982. Until the mid-1990s Narpula was the only
female Papunya Tula artist working in the Pintupi communities of Papunya, Kintore
and Kiwirrkura.

When Johnny Scobie Tjapanangka died in 2000, Narpula moved to Mt Liebig with
her son and daughter-in-law, Fabrianne Peterson, who had also begun painting in
the late 1980s.

Narpula paints stories associated with the Dreaming of her brother Turkey Tolson
Tjupurrula and Women’s Ceremonies including ceremonial body painting motifs. One story is the ancestral women travelling from Mitukatjirra in the south to Ngutjul.
Narpula lives in Mt Liebig and continues to tell the ancient stories through ceremonial
sand painting and on canvas.

Collections include:
Australian Museum, Sydney NSW
Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide
Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane
South Australian Museum, Adelaide
Robert Holmes à Court Collections, WA
Flinders Art Museum, Adelaide SA
Richard Kelton Art Collection, Santa Monica, USA
Thomas Vroom Collection
Artbank NSW