Ada Nangala Dixon. Image and text © Warlukurlangu Artists of Yuendumu
Biography of Aboriginal Artist, Ada Nangala Dixon
Ada was born in 1952 at Mt Doreen, an extensive cattle breeding station about 55 km west of Yuendumu in the Northern Territory. Born into a well-known artist family, her father is Pegleg Jampijinpa, a successful Pintupi artist who passed away in early 2006, and her mother is Margaret Napangardi Brown, a successful artist with Warlukurlangu Artists who passed away in 2013. She attended the local school at Yuendumu and when she finished, she helped out at the Yuendumu School and Nyirripi School, making lunches and cleaning. She is married and has 5 kids and 7 grandchildren.
Ada began painting with Warlukurlangu Artists Aboriginal Corporation, an Aboriginal owned and governed art centre located in Yuendumu, in 2009. She would watch her sister Joy Nangala Brown paint and decided to paint herself. She paints her Father’s Jukurrpa (Dreaming), especially Ngapa Jukurrpa (Water Dreaming), Dreamings that have been passed down for millennia and relate directly to the land, its features, and the plants and animals that inhabit it. Ada uses an unrestricted palette to develop a modern interpretation of her traditional culture.
When Ada is not painting, she goes hunting, especially on the weekends, “I love it!”