Maureen Douglas

Maureen Douglas Paintings

Quick Facts:

  • Date of Birth: 1966

  • Place of Birth: Amoonguna, Northern Territory, Australia

  • Language Group: Pitjantjatjara

  • Art Centres: Tjala Arts (Amata) and Papulankutja Artists (Blackstone)

  • Style of Art: Contemporary Aboriginal painting, acrylic on linen, and woven basketry

  • Aboriginal Art Status: Senior Pitjantjatjara artist

  • Themes: Anumara Tjukurpa (Caterpillar Dreaming), Kungkarrangkalpa (Seven Sisters Dreaming), Ngayuku Ngura (My Country)

  • Family: Daughter of Angilyiya Mitchell, Traditional Owner of the women's site Kuru Ala; mother of two daughters; paints alongside her family as part of the Burton Women's Collaborative

Maureen Douglas is a senior Pitjantjatjara artist known for her powerful paintings and intricately woven baskets, working across two art centres to paint the Dreaming stories of both her father's and her mother's Country. Her practice reflects a life spent moving between communities across the APY Lands, and a deep commitment to passing that knowledge on to her own daughters.

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Early Life

Maureen Douglas was born in 1966 in Amoonguna, and grew up in Warburton, Western Australia. She later moved to Pipalyatjara, where she began working in batik, before settling in Amata, where she started painting her father's Country and the Anumara Tjukurpa, or Caterpillar Dreaming, through Tjala Arts. Maureen has since lived across several communities in the APY Lands, including Papulankutja (Blackstone) and Amata, building a practice that now spans painting, batik and weaving.

Family and Country

Maureen's Country and practice are shaped by both sides of her family. Through her father, she paints the Anumara Tjukurpa at Tjala Arts, the story and Country she began her painting career with in Amata. Through her mother, Angilyiya Mitchell, she is connected to Kuru Ala, a significant women's site for which her mother is a Traditional Owner. This connection draws Maureen to Papulankutja (Blackstone), where she paints the Kungkarrangkalpa, or Seven Sisters Tjukurpa, associated with that site, at times working alongside her mother, continuing the intergenerational sharing of women's cultural law and knowledge.

Maureen also paints as part of the Burton Women's Collaborative, working alongside members of her own family. She has spoken of being glad to be painting so that her two daughters can learn these stories in turn, so that when their own children are born, they too will be able to learn about their grandfather's Country.

Dreaming Stories and Style

Maureen's work is built around the two major Dreamings connected to her family's Country: the Anumara Tjukurpa (Caterpillar Dreaming) of her father's Country, and the Kungkarrangkalpa (Seven Sisters Dreaming) connected to her mother's Country at Kuru Ala. She also paints broader Ngayuku Ngura, or "My Country," works reflecting on Country more generally. Alongside her paintings, Maureen is known for her intricately woven baskets, a practice that runs alongside her painting and reflects the same connection to Country and traditional women's knowledge.

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Cultural Significance  and Legacy

Maureen Douglas's practice is significant for the way it bridges two distinct strands of Tjukurpa within a single artist's body of work: the Anumara Tjukurpa of her father's Country, held and painted through Tjala Arts, and the Kungkarrangkalpa connected to her mother's Country at Kuru Ala, painted through Papulankutja Artists. Few artists work so visibly across two art centres and two family lines of story at once, and her practice offers a clear example of how Tjukurpa, family and Country are inherited through both parents rather than a single line.

As a mid-career artist still building her body of work, Maureen’s legacy is very much an unfolding one, centred on the transmission of knowledge rather than a finished career to look back on. Her stated commitment to passing on the Anumara and Kungkarrangkalpa stories to her two daughters, so that they in turn can teach their own children about their grandfather's Country, places the ongoing continuity of these Dreamings, not just their documentation in paint, at the centre of her work. Her collaborative painting sessions with her mother, at Papulankutja stand as a living example of that transmission already underway.

Artwork and Exhibitions

Maureen Douglas is recorded as one of the early-career Tjala Arts artists who have exhibited through APY Gallery's spaces in Sydney, Melbourne and Adelaide, part of the APY Art Centre Collective's exhibition program supporting artists from across the APY Lands. Her work has also been offered through Honey Ant Gallery in Sydney, and has appeared at auction through Ozbid Auctions.

Documented works by Maureen Douglas include:

My Country (2018), acrylic on linen, offered through Honey Ant Gallery.

Ngayuku Ngura (My Country) (2021), acrylic on linen, exhibited through Tjala Arts and the APY Art Centre Collective.

Untitled works (2021 to 2022), acrylic on linen, exhibited through Tjala Arts and APY Gallery.

My Grandmother's Country (2024 and 2025), offered at auction through Ozbid Auctions.

Maureen Douglas’s Artwork at Mandel

Every artwork in this collection is created by Aboriginal artists with the cultural authority to paint these stories, supporting artists and their communities directly. When you buy through Mandel Aboriginal Art Gallery, you're supporting the continuation of these stories for future generations, backed by clear provenance and a direct connection to Country.

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