Lynette Corby Nungurrayi

Lynette Corby Nungurrayi Paintings

Quick Facts

  • Full Name: Lynette Corby Nungurrayi (also known as Lynette Daniels Nungurrayi, Lynette Corby)

  • Born: 1 July 1958 Place of Birth / Origin: Haasts Bluff, Northern Territory, Australia

  • Current Community: Yamuturrngu (Mount Liebig / Watiyawanu), Northern Territory

  • Language Group / People: Luritja

  • Painting Since: Around 1990

  • Art Centre: Papunya Tula Artists; also paints for Watiyawanu Artists

  • Main Themes: Witchetty Grub Dreaming, Snake Dreaming, Woman Dreaming, Tree Root Dreaming, Rockholes, Bush Berries, Seven Sisters

  • Mediums: Acrylic on canvas and linen, screen-printing onto garments, silk printing, basket weaving

Lynette Corby Nungurrayi is a Luritja Aboriginal artist born at Haasts Bluff in Central Australia, who has painted for Papunya Tula Artists since around 1990. Known for bold, dramatic colour and a distinctive layered technique that gives her canvases an almost three-dimensional depth, she has built a body of work spanning both traditional iconography and a more recent, abstract visual language.

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Early Life & Artistic Journey

Lynette was born on 1 July 1958 at Haasts Bluff, in the region west of Alice Springs in Australia’s Northern Territory. In the 1980s she moved to Yamuturrngu, also known as Mount Liebig or Watiyawanu, a community in the Papunya region, where she is based today.

Lynette began painting around 1990, working with Papunya Tula Artists, the art centre that grew out of the Western Desert art movement founded in the early 1970s. She continues to paint for Papunya Tula Artists today, alongside also producing work for Watiyawanu Artists, the art centre associated with her home community of Mount Liebig.

Beyond painting, Lynette works across a range of artistic mediums, including screen-printing onto garments, silk printing, and basket weaving and stretching, a versatility reflected in her 1997 entry into the Northern Territory Fashion Award with a self-designed screen-printed garment.

Style & Themes

Lynette’s paintings draw on a number of Dreamings, including Witchetty Grub, Snake and Woman Dreaming, as well as Tree Root Dreaming, Rockholes, Bush Berries and Seven Sisters, stories connected to her own Country and family line. Her earlier paintings made use of traditional iconography and more realistic motifs, depicting bush foods, implements and human figures directly. Her more recent work has moved away from these realistic elements toward a fully abstract depiction of the same underlying stories.

Across both periods, Lynette’s work is distinguished by its bold, vibrant use of colour, dramatic yet carefully balanced. Painting on linen and canvas, she builds up layered blends of colour that add real depth and dimension to the surface of the work, often producing an almost three-dimensional effect.

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Exhibitions & Recognition

Lynette’s work has been widely exhibited in corporate and private collections both in Australia and abroad. Selected exhibitions include

The Araluen Arts Centre in Alice Springs in 1995, 1996 and 2002

Chapel off Chapel Gallery in Melbourne in 1998 and 1999,

Chapel off Chapel exhibition with Watiyawanu Artists in 2003

That same year, her work was included in the Telstra National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Award (NATSIAA), one of the most significant Indigenous art awards in Australia.

Discover Authentic Aboriginal Art

If you are interested in collecting authentic works by Lynette Corby Nungurrayi or other respected Luritja artists, Mandel Aboriginal Art Gallery offers a carefully curated selection sourced from reputable Aboriginal-owned art centres and trusted galleries.

Whether you are beginning your collection or adding to an established one, Mandel Aboriginal Art Gallery provides genuine Indigenous artworks that honour Australia’s rich cultural heritage while supporting Aboriginal artists and their communities. Contact us for a deep dive into Aboriginal artist and their work.

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