Mary Napangardi Butcher
Mary Napangardi Butcher
Aboriginal Warlpiri Woman
Mary Napangardi Butcher was born at Mount Dennison, but has spent most of her life in Yuendumu, a remote Aboriginal community located 290 km north-west of Alice Springs in the NT of Australia. Mary is a single parent and has two sons, Herbert and Johnathan Martin. Mary has been painting with Warlukurlangu Artists Aboriginal Corporation, an Aboriginal owned and governed art centre located in Yuendumu, since 1987. She was greatly influenced by her father Jack Japanangka Butcher (Dec) and his sister Daisy Napanangka Nelson (1930 – 2001), both artists who painted with Warlukurlangu Artists in the early 80s and 90s. Mary would often paint with her sister Florrie Napangardi Jones and with Daisy on the same piece of artwork. Mary paints her Pikilyi Jukurrpa stories-Pikilyi is a sacred water hole that never dries out.