Christine Peterson Nungala

Christine Peterson Nungala was born in 1973 and is originally from Papunya Community approximately 3 hours out of Alice Springs in Central Australia. Christine comes from a family of artists with her mother being Topsy Peterson Napangardi and her aunt is the well known Lily Kelly Napangardi. Central Art is proud to work with both Topsy Peterson Napangardi and Lily Kelly Napangardi and currently have both artists’ paintings available.

Christine is an interesting artist who is still emerging; she began painting in 2001 with her main Dreaming Tina Tjinapa being the Aboriginal word for Willy Wag Tail. The Willy Wag Tail is a native and iconic bird which is found in Central Australia. It is known for its dancing tail. In Christine’s artwork she also depicts the landmarks of her traditional country, in particular the sand hills which are found in and around the Western Desert. The land marks that she depicts through her work also contain the Dreamings associated with them. It is these Dreamings which tell creation stories and provide the laws and morals which Aboriginal people are to live by.

In Christine Peterson Nungala’s Sandhill depictions, she uses thick bold lines and criss-cross designs to illustrate the unevenness of the landscape. The painting which Central Art acquired was a prime example of her Sand Hills paintings, with the bright thick red paint standing out against the black and white of the background.

Christine lives in Watiyawanu or Mt Liebig with her family and continues to paint for the local Aboriginal Arts Centre – Watiyawanu Artists.