Makinti Napanangka began painting regularly for Papunya Tula Artists in 1996. She held her first solo exhibition, to critical acclaim, at Utopia Art Sydney in 2000. There have since been numerous solo exhibitions of her work. In 2008, Makinti was awarded the National Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Art Award and in 2012, her paintings were included in the 18th Biennale of Sydney All Our Relations. Her work is in significant national and international collections including the Art Gallery of New South Wales, the National Gallery of Australia and the Seattle Art Museum. Makinti lived and worked at Kintore before she passed away in 2011.
Makinti's paintings often feature ceremonial hairstring belts, "shown as sets of lines varying in hue and density, usually in bold yellows and oranges, alternating with white. Her bands of lines form into sweeping arcs, creating patterns that twist and bend, blown by an invisible wind in many directions across the surface." (Alec O'Halloran, 2000).
SELECTED EXHIBITIONS
Papunya 50 Years, 1971 - 2021, SmithDavidson Gallery Amsterdam, October 27 - December 12, 2021
2021 ‘Lineage & Legacy’, Araluen Arts Centre, Alice Springs, Australia
2020 ‘Desert Painters of Australia - Two Generations’, Gagosian Gallery, Hong Kong, China
2019 ‘Contemporary Australian Aboriginal Art: A Curated Selection’, SmithDavidson Gallery, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
2019 ‘Desert Painters of Australia’, Larry Gagosian Gallery, New York, USA - from the Steve Martin & Anne Springfield Collections and Kluge-Ruhe Collection of the University of Virginia, USA
2019 ‘Borrowed Scenery’, Campbelltown Arts Centre, Sydney, Australia
2016 ‘Artist's Hand: Collectors' Eye - The Angel Gift’, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, Australia
2015 ‘Tarnanthi - Festival of Contemporary Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art’, Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide, Australia
2013 ‘Crossing Cultures, The Owen and Wagner collection of Contemporary Aboriginal Australian Art’, Toledo Museum of Art, Toledo, USA
2012 ‘Ancestral Modern, Australian Aboriginal Art from The Kalplan & Levi Collection’, Seattle Art Museum, Seattle, USA
2012 ‘Crossing Cultures, The Owen and Wagner Collection of Contemporary Aboriginal Australian Art’, Hood Museum of Art, Hanover, USA
2012 ‘All Our Relations’, 18th Biennale of Sydney, Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney, Australia
2012 ‘PTA 40th Anniversary Show’, Papunya Tula Artists, Alice Springs, Australia
2012 ‘Unique Perspectives - Papunya Tula Artists and the Alice Springs Community’, Araluen Art Centre, Alice Springs, Australia
2011 ‘Up Close and Personal: works from the collection of Dr Peter Elliott AM’, S. H. Ervin Gallery, Sydney, Australia
2011 ‘Pintupi Trails 2011’, Gallery Gabrielle Pizzi, Melbourne, Australia
2010 ‘Tradition And Innovation - Papunya Tula 2010’, Gallery Gabrielle Pizzi, Melbourne, Australia
2010 ‘Nyakula Kanyini Piintapalyalpayi Kamu Walytja Tjanampa Lurrtju - Caring for Artists and Their Families’, Papunya Tula Artists, Alice Springs, Australia
2010 ‘Papunya Tula Women's Art’, Maitland Regional Gallery, Maitland, Australia
2009 ‘Pro Community - Papunya Tula Artists’, Kunstwerk, Eberdingen-Nussdorf; Art Bar71, Berlin; VDMA, Frankfurt; Artkelch, Freiburg, Germany
2009 ‘Painting The Country’, Cross Cultural Art Exchange, Darwin, Australia
2009 ‘Nganampatju Kanpatja Winki, Nganampatju Yara Wilkii - All Our Paintings, All Our Stories’, Papunya Tula Artists, Alice Springs, Australia
2009 ‘Mythology & Reality: Contemporary Aboriginal Art From The Gabrielle Pizzi Collection’, TarraWarra Museum of Art, Healesville, Australia
2008 ‘Papunya Tula - Recent Works’, Short Street Gallery, Broome, Australia
2008 ‘Papunya Tula Artists 2008’, Gallery Gabrielle Pizzi, Melbourne, Australia
2008 ‘Virtuosity: The Evolution of Painting at Papunya Tula’, The Kluge-Ruhe Aboriginal Art Collection of the University of Virginia, Charlottesville, USA
2008 ‘Paint’, Raftspace, Darwin, Australia
2008 ‘Ngurra Yurru Kulintkjaku - Always Remembering Country’, Cross Cultural Art Exchange, Darwin, Australia
2008 ‘Marrkangku Yara Palyantjaku Ngurrangka - Making Strong Paintings At Home’, Papunya Tula Artists, Alice Springs, Australia
2007 ‘Makinti’, Papunya Tula Artists, Alice Springs, Australia
2007 ‘Contemporary Aboriginal Art: The Mollie Gowing acquisition fund’, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia
2007 ‘Papunya Tula 2007’, Gallery Gabrielle Pizzi, Melbourne, Australia
2007’ Recent Paintings 2007’, Cross Cultural Art Exchange, Darwin, Australia
2006 ‘Luminous - Contemporary Art from The Australian Desert’, Bathurst Regional Gallery, Bathurst, Australia
2006 ‘Papunya Tula Artists 2006’, Gallery Gabrielle Pizzi, Melbourne, Australia
2006 ‘Dreaming Their Way’, National Museum of Women in the Arts, Washington DC, USA
2006 ‘Luminous - Contemporary Art from The Australian Desert’, Manning Regional Art Gallery, Taree, Australia
2006 ‘Luminous - Contemporary Art from The Australian Desert’, Grafton Regional Art Gallery, Grafton, Australia
2006 ‘Yawulyurru kapalilu palyara nintilpayi’, Papunya Tula Artists, Alice Springs, Australia
2005 ‘Papunya Tula Artists’, Gallery Gabrielle Pizzi, Melbourne, Australia
2005 ‘Luminous - Contemporary Art from The Australian Desert’, Manly Art Gallery and Museum, Sydney, Australia
2005 ‘Pintupi Artists’, Papunya Tula Artists, Alice Springs, Australia
2005 ‘Aboriginal Vision in Contemporary Australian Art’, Wright Exhibition Space, Seattle, USA
2005 ‘Celebrating 20 Years, Telstra National Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Art Award, travelling exhibition’, Wollongong City Art Gallery, Wollongong, Australia
2005 ‘Celebrating 20 Years, Telstra National Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Art Award, travelling exhibition’, Cairns Regional Gallery, Cairns, Australia
2004 ‘Pintupi Artists’, Papunya Tula Artists, Alice Springs, Australia
2004 ‘Papunya Tula Artists’, Gallery Gabrielle Pizzi, Melbourne, Australia
2004 ‘Mythology & Reality’, Heide Museum of Modern Art, Melbourne, Australia
2004 ‘Colour Power - Aboriginal Art Post 1984’, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, Australia
2004 ‘Celebrating 20 Years, Telstra National Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Art Award, travelling exhibition’, National Archives of Australia, Canberra, Australia
2004 ‘Celebrating 20 Years, Telstra National Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Art Award, travelling exhibition’, RMIT University, Melbourne, Australia
2003 ‘Recent Paintings by the Women Artists of Kintore and Kiwirrkura’, Gallery Gabrielle Pizzi, Melbourne, Australia
2003 ‘International Abstralaction: Making Painting Real’, Seattle Art Museum, Seattle,USA
2003 ‘Pintupi Artists’, Papunya Tula Artists, Alice Springs, Australia
2002 ‘Recent Paintings’, Gallery Gabrielle Pizzi, Melbourne, Australia
2002 ‘Pintupi Artists’, Papunya Tula Artists, Alice Springs, Australia
2001 ‘Spirituality and Australian Aboriginal Art’, Comunidad de Madrid touring exhibition, Spain
2001 ‘Pintupi Exhibition’, Papunya Tula Artists, Alice Springs, Australia
2001 ‘Kintore and Kiwirrkura’, Gallery Gabrielle Pizzi, Melbourne, Australia
2001 ‘Dreamtime: the Dark and the Light’, Kunst der Gegenwart, Sammlung Essl, Vienna, Austria
2001 ‘Dreamscapes-Contemporary Desert Art’, Mostings Hus, Frederiksberg, Denmark
2001 ‘Desert Flowering’, Manawatu Art Gallery, North Island, New Zealand
2001 ‘Aborigena’, Palazzo Bricherasio, Turino, Italy
2000 ‘Pintupi Women’, Papunya Tula Artists, Alice Springs, Australia
2000 ‘Papunya - Tula Genesis and Genius’, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia
2000 Gallery Gabrielle Pizzi, Melbourne, Australia
1999 ‘Moet & Chandon Touring Exhibition’, RMIT Gallery, Melbourne, Australia
1999 Gallery Gabrielle Pizzi, Melbourne, Australia
1998 Gallery Gabrielle Pizzi, Melbourne, Australia
1998 14th Telstra NATSIAA, RMIT University, Melbourne, Australia
1998 14th Telstra NATSIAA, Gold Coast City Art Gallery, Surfers Paradise, Australia
1997 Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory, Darwin, Australia
1997 Gallery Gabrielle Pizzi, Melbourne, Australia
1996 Papunya Tula Artists, Alice Springs, Australia
1996 Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory, Darwin, Australia
Born in Gibson Desert on January 1st, 1930
Died in Kintore on January 9th, 2011