Elizabeth Nyumi Biography

Elizabeth Nyumi started painting in 1987 and emerged as one of Australia's leading artists in the late 1990s and early 2000's. In 2004 Nyumi became the first artist represented by Warlayirti Artists to be selected for the Biennale of Sydney. Her works tell stories country and of abundant bush food.Elizabeth Nyumi's father was from Alyarra in the Ngaanyatjarra region and her mother was from of Nynmi near Kiwirrkurra. When Nyumi was very young, her mother died tragically at the Kanari soakwater close to Jupiter Well. As a young girl, Nyumi lived a nomadic existence with her family group. When she was a teenager, her father and family group walked up the Canning Stock Route into an old mission. Here she was given clothes and taken to Billiluna Station and trained as a domestic worker. She mostly worked for the wives of the station managers in a domestic capacity before she started making art.