Nancy Kunoth Petyarre was born at Soakage Bore near Utopia in Central Australia, circa 1938. Nancy was the second eldest of the acclaimed seven Petyarre sisters – Gloria, Myrtle, Kathleen, Violet, Ada and Jean – all artists of international recognition. Yet it was not until she was in her forties, in the 1980s, that Nancy started painting. She had no formal education and knew almost nothing of Western art. Her first exhibition came in 1989 when she was around fifty years old, at the S. H. Ervin Gallery.
Like many of the female artists from the Utopia area, Nancy worked in batik and gradually evolved her art to canvas in the late 1980s. Her primary dreaming was Arnkerrthe, the Mountain Devil Lizard, and many of her paintings depict the skin on the back of the lizard through compositions of delicate dotting. Constellations of dots swarm around a centre point while tonal shifts evoke the textures and patterns of the lizard’s scales. Later Nancy’s works became more linear, rendered with flowing strokes and striking colours. Other works include ‘Awelye’ or body painting, replicating the ceremonial iconography associated with dreaming stories painted on women’s bodies. Nancy is also known for her carvings and wood block prints
In 2009 Nancy passed away; marking the loss of both a talented artist and senior cultural custodian of the Anmatyerre people.
