Dorothy Napangardi was the master of movement. Her dotted representations of the landscape around her country has made her one of the most celebrated Aboriginal artists.
Napangardi was born in the early 1950s in Mina Mina country, about 400km North West of Alice Springs. Mina Mina is the site of an important rock hole and there are many Dreaming stories associated with this country. Whilst Napangati recieved minimal western education, she was well versed in the Dreaming stories and has a deep knowledge of her country. Her father was also a senior law-giver. Dorothy grew up living a traditional lifestyle in the bush, with no exposure to white man until her family moved to the Yuendumu settlement.
In 1987 Dorothy began painting and soon found a highly original voice and style. Her work revolves around dotted representations of the landscape around Mina Mina. They explore different and intricate representations of its salt pans and sand hills. Whilst Dorothy does sometimes use colour, it tends to be only in a subtle and minimalistic manner. Dorothy Napangardi's stylistically distinct paintings present studies of her ancestral lands through interconnected networks of dotted lines. Not only do these works present the land topographically, but also with specific relation to ancestral tracks and the stories that they convey.