Eileen Bird Nungarai

February 4, 2020

Eileen Bird Nungarai

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Artist Profile · Northern Territory

Eileen Bird Nungarai

Eastern Arrernte artist painting the Pencil Yam story of her Country.

Born

c. 1960s

Language group

Eastern Arrernte

Country

Arnumarra, near Gem Tree, north-east of Alice Springs, NT

Medium

Acrylic on canvas

Family and Country

Eileen Bird Nungarai is an Eastern Arrernte woman whose Country is Arnumarra, near Gem Tree, north-east of Alice Springs in Central Australia. Many of her relatives still live in the Harts Range area.

She lives at Mulga Bore in the Utopia region with her husband, Paddy Bird, the eldest son of the renowned artist Ada Bird Petyarre. Eileen began painting in the mid-1990s, and painting runs through her family: several of her children and grandchildren paint too.

Her work

Eileen is best known for her Pencil Yam Seed paintings. In the Dreaming story, two seeds gave rise to two kinds of pencil yam. Eileen paints the seeds of the Arlatyeye, the pencil yam that belongs to her Country: a small, slender yam growing beneath a creeper with bright green leaves and yellow flowers. She also paints women gathering bush food and Awelye (women’s ceremony).

Pencil Yam Seed
Bush food gathering
Awelye (Women’s Ceremony)
Dot painting

Selected exhibitions

1998 – Mbantua Gallery, Alice Springs
2002 – Group exhibitions in the USA, including Art From The Dreamtime at the Portland Art Museum
2004 – Mbantua Gallery USA tour: Portland, Nashville, Knoxville and Hartford

Related artists

Eileen’s mother-in-law was Ada Bird Petyarre, and her daughter Alvira Bird Mpetyane also paints.

Buying Eileen’s work

For authenticated paintings, buy through a recognised Indigenous art gallery such as Utopia Lane Art, and always ask for a certificate of authenticity.