Year Of Birth

1992

Biography

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.