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Lot description
LUCY YUKENBARRI NAPANANGKA 1934 - 2003 Untitled, 1999 acrylic on linen 121 x 40 cm bears cataloguing details verso PROVENANCE Warlayirti Artists, Western Australia, Cat No. 160/99 acquired from the above during art collecting trip 1999 The Collection of Dame Marie Bashir AD CVO and Sir Nicholas Shehadie AC OBE, Sydney, New South Wales Lucy Yukenbarri belonged to the last generation of desert people who moved into the mission at Balgo Hills, on the western edge of the Tanami Desert, after living a traditional nomadic life and undergoing full initiation before encountering European colonists. From the beginning, her innovative and daring paintings stood out for their intense fields of color and thick, painterly texture. Although her brushwork suggested linearity, the bands of color were actually the result of her unique technique of merging dots, a method she called 'kinti kinti' (close, close). The rapid drying of the paint in the intense heat led to a chromatic density that left no room for gentle gradations or blended hues, resulting in a striking immediacy of contrast and resonance. This work depicts a central rock hole in the Great Sandy Desert, encircled by sand dunes rich with bush foods, particularly Pura, a wild bush tomato. As a senior law woman, Lucy Yukenbarri held irreplaceable knowledge of the ancient places, ceremonies, and narratives. © LUCY YUKENBARRI / Copyright Agency, 2026