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Tuppy Ngintja Goodwin is a senior Pitjantjatjara artist committed to passing on her cultural knowledge to the next generation of Anangu. Tuppy was born in the bush near Bumbali Creek to her father Nguyarangu from Docker River and her mother Emily Nyanyanta from Wintutjuru, west of Fregon on the APY Lands. She moved to Mimili with her family at a young age. At the time Mimili was called Everard Park. It was a cattle station, which was returned to Aboriginal ownership through the 1981 Pitjantjatjara Land Rights Act.
 

Tuppy was a pre-school teacher at the Mimili Anangu School for thirty years, sharing stories through inma (dance and song)  and storytelling. Since the foundation of the art centre in 2009 she has been painting at Mimili Maku Arts, capturing the stories given to her through her heritage in a dynamic and intuitive way.

 

As the chairperson of Mimili Maku Arts, Tuppy has represented her art centre on multiple occasions since 2009. Alongside her late husband Kunmanara (Mumu Mike) Williams, Tuppy has been a strong leader and mentor to young Anangu in Mimili.

 

Her paintings have been exhibited nationally and internationally, and in 2022 she won the acclaimed Hadley's Art Prize for landscape painting in Tasmania. Tuppy is a cultural caretaker of Antara, a sacred place for Anangu, and the Maku Tjukurpa (witchetty grub story). "There is a special rock hole at Antara where women perform inma – inmaku pakani – and afterwards there is enough maku to feed everyone. Antara and Maku Tjukurpa is really important for Mimili women, we paint this place and its stories, keeping them strong."