Nancy Nanana Jackson Australian, Pitjantjatjara, b. 1953

Nancy Nyanyana Jackson is an artist belonging to the Ngaanyatjarra language and cultural group. Nyanyana was born in the bush near the Western Australian and Northern Territory borders. She grew up travelling between rockholes with her parents, and occasionally visiting the missions at Warburton WA and Kaltukatjara (Docker River) NT. Once Warakurna was established in the 1970s, she moved there with her family, where she resides today. Nyanyana is a highly skilled bush woman, Senior Law Woman, business-woman and well- respected artist.

Nyanyana first exhibited her fibre artwork at the Tjanpi Tjuta exhibition at Hogarth Gallery in Sydney NSW in 2008. She has followed this with a fibre artwork exhibition nearly every year since. Notable amongst these was her work in String Theory at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney NSW in 2013, and, most recently, the collaborative work Tutjurangara Massacre with fellow Tjanpi artist Judith Chambers. This work, a two-dimensional Tjanpi sculpture depicting a massacre of Ngaanyatjarra people in the 1930s near Tutjurangara (Circus Waters), was exhibited at Desert Mob 2018 in Alice Springs and was acquired by a private collector. The work garnered national and international interest and highlighted the little-known atrocity.

In addition to her fibre artwork, Nyanyana is a well-known painter, represented by Warakurna Artists, with whom she has exhibited numerous times since their inception in 2005. Important amongst her painting work is the collaborative painting Warakurna Women’s Lasseter Story which is held in the State Collection at the National Gallery of Victoria.

In addition to her artistic prowess, Nyanyana has starred in a film Mirlpatjunku: Talking about telling leaf stories in the past for ICTV that discusses the importance of Ngaanyatjarra language and its continuance. Nyanyana is a kind, caring woman who tirelessly strives for her family and community’s wellbeing. She epitomises what it means to be a Tjanpi artist and has inspired her daughters, daughters-in-law, granddaughters and nieces to create their own income and success through fibre artwork.