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Bombatu Napangardi was born in the early 1940's in Winron, Pintupi country- across the Western Australian border east of Kiwirrkura. She grew up in the bush, living a traditional life with her family.
After marrying artist Dinni Campbell Tjampitjinpa in Balgo, Bombatu became connected to a great painting family which included Dinni's brother Anatjari Tjampitjinpa. Anatjari was one of the original Papunya Tula artists. Dinni had assisted Anatjari, and thus passed on valuable information to Bombatu, which he'd gained watching the old men in the early years of the 1970's. The traditional ways of mixing colours and laying out stories onto canvas were all inherited down the family line by Bombatu.
During a visit to Papunya in 1981, the great Uta Uta Tjangala invited Dinni to be one of his assistants on a large canvas depicting events at the site of Yumari. This was regarded as a great honour and established Dinni and thence Bombatu in the great Papunya lineage.Bombatu had been apprenticed to Dinni for many years before his death in 2000 and since then has carried on the family painting traditions. She started recording her own dreamtime stories passed on by her parents and then also included the stories of her famous husband.
The skills and techniques Bombatu learnt by watching the old men paint are all evident in the superb quality and style of her work. Her paintings are typical of the men and women from early Kintore and Papunya, depicting traditional women's ceremonies. Employing similar line work and dotting techniques, Bombatu transfers body designs and many traditional symbols seen across Central Desert painting.
Bombatu's love of painting and the dreamings of her people are evident in her intricate canvasses. Displaying a canopy of brilliant color and magnificent definition, the artist celebrates with visual splendor and precision all she has learnt and now passes on. Bombatu's daughter Christine Nangala is now apprenticed to her and so the dreamtime continues on through future generations.
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