Lanita Numina Napanangka

Born in 1965 Lanita Numina Napananka is an emerging Anmatyerre artist from the Utopia region in the Eastern Central Desert of the Northern Territory in Central Australia (north-west of Alice Springs), one of the middle sisters of the six well-known desert artists, the Numina Sisters.

The daughter of Barbara Price Mbtitjana who is an elder painter and cultural elder from Stirling Station and her dear father is passed she attended primary school at Stirling Station (a cattle station on the outskirts of Tennant Creek). In her formative years Sharon lived with her mother, and aunties on Stirling Station near Ti Tree and now primarily lives with her sisters in Darwin, travelling home to visit her mother or to bring her mother to Darwin to visit them all.

Along with her sisters and her mother, Lanita comes from a long line of desert painters of the contemporary Aboriginal art and dot-dot central desert movement. The six sisters (Selina, Lanita, Jacinta, Caroline, Louise and Sharon), known in the Aboriginal art world as the Numina Sisters, are all rapidly emerging as the next artistic dynasty in the contemporary aboriginal art world and are known for their bright and innovative works. Taught by her mother Barbara Price Mbitijiana and her older sisters she was also surrounded by her renowned painter aunties Gloria and Kathleen Petyerre.

The Bush Medicine Leaves Dreaming knowledge story is a popular theme of the Numina Sisters. Many women from the Peytre, Mambitji and Numina family name hold custody of the story and knowledge keepers of painting series-themes such as Bush Medicine Leaves, Bush Tucker, Seeded, Soakage, Womens' Ceremony etc - in common with other skin groups across the vast arid creek beds and red sand of central Australia.

Subjects of importance in the theme-series painted are various bush tucker foods. Plant foods include wild berries, plums, onion, yam, seeds etc. Many animals can be depicted as food source or as totems such as Thorny Devil LIzard and Dingo Tracks. Womens' Ceremony, Awelye Body Art Ceremony are mostly painted by senior ladies but younger women need to know it from a young age. Some themes such as Bush Tucker can be open and universal others can be secret and or significant cultural ceremonies. Lanita particularly paints stories related to Dingo Dreaming, Bush Medicine, Bush Tucker and Waterholes.

Knowing, carrying and reinforcing these stories gives respect for Country and ancestors and shows responsibility and care of holding such stories to keep the stories and traditional practices alive.  The knowledge must be retold repeatedly and handed on. The process of painting and the painted story keeps the conversation going.

Lanita’s artworks are widely exhibited and collected. The Danish community of Darwin presented a painting by Lanita to Princess Mary O'Donnell and Prince Frederick of Denmark as a wedding gift.