Karen Napaljarri Barnes

Overview
Karen Napaljarri Barnes
Karen Napaljarri Barnes was born in 1992 in Lajamanu, a remote Aboriginal community in semi-arid country on the edge of the Tanami Desert,  1000km north-west of Alice Springs in the Northern Territory The artist is is part of the flourishing next generation of artists to emerge from Warlukurlangu, an Aboriginal owned and governed Art Centre, located 290km North West from Alice Springs along the Tanami Highway. 
 
Karen Barnes relocated to Yuendumu once completing school in Lajamanu and started painting for Warlukurlangu in 2001. The artist recounts sitting  each day with her grandmother, esteemed artist Judy Napangardi Watson, who imparted important cultural traditions and mythopoetry of the country onto her young granddaughter as they painted together. 
 
The subject of Karen Barnes’s painting are the many ‘jurlpu’ (bird) species that live around Yuendumu. The bush around Yuendumu provides many different habitats for birds to live in, from aquatic species that populate the waterholes, to those that nest in trees and in the surrounding spinifex grass. Some birds, such as Emus and Bush Turkeys are hunted for their meat, whilst others are used as hunting aids, such as the Spinifex Pidgeon and the Crested Pigeon. Special breeds of birds are revered for their communication of messages: the Willy Wagtails and Cranes are trusted for their prediction of incoming rains, whilst the cry of the Brown Falcon is feared for its ability to make children sick. The ‘paku- paku’ (Crested Bellbird) and ‘kurlukuku’ (Diamond Dove ) are messengers of love songs. 
 
The bird species of Yuendumu are also affiliated with ceremony and traditional lore; their dreaming stories of ancestral creation have been inherited by Karen Barnes, having been passed down through her family through oral tradition. The stories pertain to Mina Mina, a country west of Yuendumu of which her family are the custodians. For Karen Barnes, painting retains a closeness with these stories and her family: particularly her grandmother. 
 
In recent years, Karen Barnes has captured the attention of the Australian art scene for her technicolour renditions of Budgerigar Dreaming (Ngatijirri Jukurrpa). The artist’s figurative style is striking for its use of strong colour to model form, favouring bold and contrasting colours. The naive-style depiction of these quizzical critters exude great charm and presence. Barnes’s technique extends an existing Warlukurlangu penchant for innovative colour, of which her grandmother was one of the founding tastemakers
 
Karen has extended her repertoire and has taken great delight in depicting the animals that live around Yuendumu. Cheerful with character and expression, the artist’s work is has a wonderful appeal. 
Works