Maureen Hudson Nampitjinpa

Maureen Hudson Nampitjinpa

Known also as: Maureen Hudson

Date of Birth: 13 August 1959

Region: Mt Allan, NT.

Language: Warlpiri

Maureen was born in 1959 on a cattle station “Yuelamu”, 290km northwest of Alice Springs at Mt Allen. She was one of ten children to parents Lena Nungarrayi and Ben Jangala, both now deceased. During her younger years she attended school at the Yuendumu settlement and later returned to Mt Allan, where she became a teacher’s assistant for a period of three years.

Maureen started painting in 1981 after being surrounded by senior artists, namely her full-blood cousin, renowned artist Clifford Possum Tjapaltjarri. She also painted alongside other significant senior artists; Paddy Stewart, Paddy Simms, Bessie Simms, Judy Watson and  Maggie Watson Napangardi.

Maureen’s artwork draws on traditional Warlpiri Dreaming stories, while incorporating her own distinctive sense of colour and innovation of design. Her ancestral Dreaming's include Kanmarra, Emu, Fire, and Women's Ceremony, which have been passed down from her mother's involvement in traditional ceremony. She inherited Warlu and Ngapa from her father and grandfather. 

Maureen often depicts the rivers and sand hills of her traditional country, Warlurkurlangu (Bushfire Country). As a small child Maureen travelled through this area gathering bush tucker and bush medicine. She was also taught to chase & hunt kangaroo and dig for water when there was no food at their camp.

Maureen has three children, Jillian, Gwenda and Anderson. Jillian has followed her mother into painting. Maureen currently resides and paints in Adelaide, but frequently travels back to Mt Allan for ceremony, sorry business and also to help look after her grandchildren. In recent years Maureen Hudson Nampijinpa has also been working as an Artist in Residence at Yulara (Uluru – Ayers Rock).

Maureen describes painting as her first love. She is recognised as an extremely innovative artist who is constantly experimenting with design and technique. Maureen’s paintings hang in numerous national and international collections