Nyuju Stumpy Brown
1924 c. - 2011
Language: Wangkajunga
Region: Kimberley
Community: Fitzroy Crossing
Art Centre: Mangkaja Arts
Outstation: Kukapunyu
Senior law woman Nyuju Stumpy Brown was a custodian for ancestral lands at Ngapawarlu, in the Great Sandy Desert.
Nyuju was the sister of Rover Thomas and was born at Kukapanyu (Well 39), she grew up in the desert but eventually followed the drovers north along the stock route.
She travelled to Balgo mission with her uncle, Jamili, an Aboriginal stockman. Nyuju later moved to Fitzroy Crossing.
During an art career that spanned from the 1980s until 2008, she recreated the desert sites that she knew from her childhood, focusing on the Dreaming stories that belong to Ngapawarlu, Warrawarra, Jirntijirnti and other water sites along the Canning Stock Route.
PROFILE
Nyuju Stumpy Brown
1924 c. - 2011
Language: Wangkajunga
Region: Kimberley
Community: Fitzroy Crossing
Art Centre: Mangkaja Arts
Outstation: Kukapunyu
ARTIST CV
Collection:
Aboriginal Art Museum, The Netherlands.
Berndt Museum of Anthropology, University of Western Australia.
National Gallery of Australia, Canberra.
National Gallery of Victoria.
Northern Territory University.
South Australian Museum, Adelaide.
Subjects:
Milyinti, Nyila, Jilji country, Yilirrji, Kurraltu- Brolga country, Mayntilajarra, Yirrawirli, Nguparlu, Juntu juntu, Yarrnilyi, Nurtakurangu,
Selected Solo Exhibitions:
2006 - Nyuju Stumpy Brown, Alison Kelly Gallery, Melbourne.
Selected Group Exhibitions:
2012 - Mangkaja - works on paper, Short Street Gallery, Broome, WA.
2009 - Mangkaja Survey Show, Short Street Gallery, Broome, WA
2008 - Wet’n Wild, Artkelch, Freiburg, Germany
2008 - Mangkaja Arts, A P Bond Art Dealer, Adelaide, SA
2008 - Marnintu Maparnana, Red Dot Gallery, Singapore
2008 - Shalom Gamarada, Caspary Conference Centre, University of NSW, Sydney.
2007 - Kila, Jilji and Miyi, Cool-Art, Sunshine Coast, QLD
2007 - X Marks the Spot, Woolloongabba Art Gallery, Brisbane
2007 - Bendi Lango, Fireworks Gallery, Brisbane
2005 - Decouvrir, Rever, Investir, Australian Embassy, Paris, France; 22nd Telstra National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Award, Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory, Darwin.
2004 - Tali and Jila (Waterholes and Sandhills), Japingka Gallery, Fremantle, WA; 21st Telstra National Aborigainal and Torres Strait Islander Art Award, Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory, Darwin; Colour Power - Aboriginal Art Post 1984, The Ian Potter Centre, NGV Australia, Melbourne.
2003 - 20th Telstra National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Award, Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory, Darwin.
1994 - Power of the Land, Masterpieces of Aboriginal Art, National Gallery of Victoria; The Eleventh National Aboriginal Art Award Exhibition, Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory, Darwin.
1993 - Mangkaja Women, Freemantle Arts Centre WA; Mangkaja Artists, Hogarth Galleries, NSW; Mangkaja Arts, Broome Fringe Festival, Pearl Fishers Gallery, Broome; Aboriginal Art Exhibition, Kung Gubunga,Oasis Gallery, Broadbeach,Qld; The Tenth National Aboriginal Art Award Exhibition, Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory, Darwin; Images of Power, Aboriginal Art of the Kimberley, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne.
1992 - Balgo, Kununurra, Fitzroy Crossing, Gallery 101, Melbourne; The Ninth National Aboriginal Art Award Exhibition, Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory, Darwin.
1991 - Karrayili: Ten years on, Tandanya SA.
Bibliography:
Ryan, J., 1993, Images of Power, Aboriginal Art of the Kimberley, exhib, cat., National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne.
Karrayili exhib. cat. Mangkaja Arts Resource Agency, 1991.
Karrayili; Ten years on - Exhibition Catalogue, 1991.
Mangkaja Women's Exhibition catalogue, 1993.
Images of Power: Aboriginal Art from the Kimberley - Exhibition Catalogue, 1993.
Ngajakurra Ngurrara Minyarti, This Is My Country Exhibition catalogue, 1994.
Yirra: Land Law and Language, Strong and Alive - Kimberley Aboriginal Law and Culture Centre Publication, 1996.
Jila Painted Waters of the Great Sandy Desert - Video Documentary / SBS Television, 1998.
Oxford Companion to Aboriginal Art - Oxford University Press & ANU, 2000.
Karrayili The history of Karrayili Adult Education Centre - AIATSIS Canberra, 2000.
Painting Up Big, The Ngurrara Canvas - Kaltja Now National Aboriginal Cultural Institute - Tandanya, 2001.