Doreen Reid Nakamarra
Doreen Reid Nakamarra (c.1955 – 20 October 2009) was an Australian Aboriginal artist and painter. Reid was considered an important artist within the Western Desert cultural bloc. She was a leading painter at the Papunya Tula artist cooperative in Central Australia.
Doreen Reid Nakamarra
- Name
- Doreen Reid Nakamarra
- Born
- c.1955
- Birthplace
- Mummine near Warburton, Western Australia
- Died
- 20 October 2009
- Place of death
- Adelaide, South Australia
- Awards
- National Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Art Award (2008)
- Nationality
- Australia
- Occupation
- painter
- Honours
- National Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Art Award
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Documentary summary
Doreen Reid Nakamarra (c.1955 – 20 October 2009) was an Australian Aboriginal artist and painter. Reid was considered an important artist within the Western Desert cultural bloc. She was a leading painter at the Papunya Tula artist cooperative in Central Australia.
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Note VALÉORINE
Doreen Reid Nakamarra (1955–2009) was a painter, of Australian nationality. The painter was born in Warburton and died in Adelaide. Doreen Reid Nakamarra worked in Australia.
Works are held at Art Gallery of New South Wales, Art Gallery of South Australia and Metropolitan Museum of Art, among others. Honours include National Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Art Award.
Composed from admitted, traceable facts · 30 September 2026
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In this article
Biography
Biography
Places of work recorded in the authority are Australia. Work by Doreen Reid Nakamarra is recorded in the collections of National Gallery of Victoria, National Museum of World Cultures, National Gallery of Australia, Art Gallery of New South Wales and Seattle Art Museum. Distinctions recorded are National Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Art Award.
Key facts
Key facts
• Name — Doreen Reid Nakamarra • Born — c.1955 • Birthplace — Mummine near Warburton, Western Australia • Died — 20 October 2009 • Place of death — Adelaide, South Australia • Awards — National Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Art Award (2008)
Personal life
Personal life
Reid was born in Mummine near Mirlirrtjarra / Warburton, Western Australia in the mid-1950s. In 1984, Reid and her husband George Tjampu Tjapaltjarri, who subsequently established himself as a Papunya Tula painter, settled at the new community of Kiwirrkurra, to be closer to her husband's country. In 2007, Reid's work was displayed at the National Gallery of Australia's inaugural National Indigenous Art Triennial: Culture Warriors exhibition. The exhibit, including Reid's pieces, toured Australia state galleries before opening at the Katzen Arts Center in Washington D.C. in September 2009. Additionally, Reid's work was featured at the Moscow Biennale of Contemporary Art in 2009. She was awarded the Telstra National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Award general painting prize in 2008 for an untitled work. The work depicts designs associated with the Marrapinti rockhole site, west of the Pollock Hills in Western Australia. In September 2009, Reid travelled to New York City for the opening of a Papunya Tula art exhibition which included her work. The New York exhibition was opened by Hetti Perkins, the curator of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander art at the Art Gallery of New South Wales in Sydney.
Death
Death
Reid died a few weeks after returning from a major exhibition in the United States of America (USA). On 18 October 2009, Reid was admitted to the hospital for treatment of pneumonia. She was flown from Alice Springs to Adelaide, where she died in the hospital on 20 October 2009, at the age of 50. Paul Sweeney, the general manager of Papunya Tula, praised Reid as an important artist and spokesperson.
Exhibitions
Exhibitions
• 2007 National Indigenous Art Triennial '07:Culture Warriors - 13 October 2007 - 10 February 2008 - The National Gallery of Australia. • 2009 National Indigenous Art Triennial '07:Culture Warriors. The National Gallery of Australia - Katzen Arts Centre, Washington, USA • 2009 Icons of the Desert - Early Aboriginal Paintings from Papunya - 1 September - 5 December, New York University Grey Art Gallery, USA, 2009 • 2009 Moscow Biennale of Contemporary Art. • 2010 Adelaide Biennial of Australian Art - Before and After Science - Art Gallery of South Australia - 27 February - 2 May 2010
Places
Named by the record
Places
Only places the record itself states, plotted where the house gazetteer settles their coordinates. Nothing is inferred from a name or a nationality.
Warburton.
Birth place
Adelaide.
Death place
Collections
• Seattle Art Museum • Metropolitan Museum of Art • Art Gallery of New South Wales • Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art *
Prizes
• 2008 - Telstra National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Award - $4,000 general painting award - for an untitled work about a rockhole - Marrapinti.
Notes from the source article
Cited by Wikipedia
Notes from the source article
These works are cited by the source article, in its own numbering. They are recorded as its citations, not as sources VALÉORINE has verified.
- 1.The Art Gallery of Western Australia. Doreen Reid Nakamarra.
- 2.Wilson, Ashleigh. Celebrated Aboriginal artist dead at 50. The Australian. 30 October 2009.
- 3.Australian Broadcasting Corporation. art+soul.
- 4.Sweeney, Paul. NAKAMARRA, Doreen Reid. National Indigenous Art Triennial '07:Culture Warriors. The National Gallery of Australia.
- 5.Museums and Art Galleries of the Northern Territory. 25th Telstra National Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Art Awards (NATSIAA).
- 6.Icons of the Desert: Early Aboriginal Paintings from Papunya. Grey Art Gallery. 2015-12-02.
- 7.Doreen Reid Nakamarra – Artists – eMuseum. localhost.
- 8.Marrapinti. The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
- 9.Untitled, (2007) by Doreen Reid Nakamarra.
- 10.Women's ceremonies at Marrapinti. emuseum.cornell.edu.
References
Citations
References
Each reference names the institution holding it, so a reader may go to the document itself.
reference work
Secondary witnessreference work
Secondary witness
The Encyclopedia exists whether or not anything is for sale. Corrections are recorded rather than overwritten, and every version of this record is kept. Published 28 September 2026.
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