Artist

Aileen Napaljarri Long is a Warlpiri artist from the Barkly Region of the Northern Territory.

The daughter of a Warlpiri father and Warlmanpa mother, Long was raised in Willowra Community before moving to Tennant Creek where she lives today. Long paints with Tartukula Artists in Tennant Creek, a collective known for their bold use of colour and diverse perspectives of the semi-arid landscapes of the Barkly Region.

Long’s abstract, modernist painting style is characterised by her bold use of bright colour blocking and rhythmic mark-making. Her paintings depict the wanakiji (bush tomato) and nunjawarri (bush potato), traditional bush foods that grow in abundance across the Barkly region after the rains. For Long, these recurring motifs recall fond memories of gathering bush tucker with her family during her childhood.

Long's practice is a continuation of the Warlpiri colourist tradition, which she has embraced as her own. Her paintings display her natural fluency with colour and intuitive geometric mark-making, resulting in expressive linear compositions that seem to expand beyond the canvas.

After first exhibiting in 2023, Long has been named as a finalist in the 2024 National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Awards presented by the Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory (MAGNT) and presented her debut exhibition at Alcaston Gallery, Melbourne. 

© The Artist, Barkly Regional Arts and Alcaston Gallery, Melbourne 2024

For an extended CV, please contact Alcaston Gallery at art@alcastongallery.com.au