Helen White Napaltjarri

Helen is a Warlpiri speaker who was born at Yuendumu in the Western Desert of Central
Australia circa 1944. She is a shy and polite woman who spends much of her time caring for
her young grandchildren. She has three sons and two daughters. Helen lived at Willowra in
the north western corner of the Utopia Homelands for several years, however she is now
spending more time in Alice Springs where some of her more recent works have been
painted as opposed to the ‘outdoor studio’ of the Willowra scrub that she is more accustomed
to. In this respect she is leading a nomadic lifestyle within a modern context moving between
her family in Willowra and Alice Springs and her country in the Western Desert.
When questioned about the context of her paintings, Helen seems reluctant to give too much
away, which is not uncommon for many of the artists we represent. Quite often the
information or story contained within a painting is for sharing with initiates only. In traditional
aboriginal culture, each person passes through a series of initiations in their lifetime, with
each stage meaning greater access to knowledge of dreaming stories and ceremonies.
Hence, even an uninitiated aboriginal person will not be told ‘the full story’. What we do know
about Helen’s work is that the consistent theme is ‘Meeting Place’ and presents an aerial
depiction of waking paths or ‘tracking lines’ through the country around Willowra.
One can assume that these paths are not necessarily physical in nature but denote a
dreaming song or ‘story’ that runs through the land and acts as a boundary and or walking
route that is recognised as a significant part of the landscape from which indigenous people
have subsisted for countless years. Where these lines intersect is called ‘Meeting Place’ in
English and may represent a special place or a sacred site.