Géraldine SIMS

Geraldine Napangardi Granites was born in 1978 at the remote Australian Aboriginal community of Yuendumu, in the Northern Territory, 290 km northwest of the town of Alice Springs. She has lived there all her life. Geraldine has two sisters and one brother who also paint.

Geraldine’s mother is Alma Nungarrayi Granites, a strong participant in the arts centre in Yuendumu. Her grandparents – Paddy Japaljarri Sims and Bessie Nakamarra Sims – were two of the art centre’s founding painters. Alma attended the local school and has two sisters and one brother who also paint.

^{Geraldine has four children : two sons and two daughters. She is a shy person who is very involved with her large extended family and enjoys being around children and helping the family’s children}

Geraldine learns by observing her grandfather’s art as well as Judy Napangardi Watson’s work (a Warlpiri artist who is at the forefront of a move towards more abstract rendering of Jukurrpa /Dreaming stories). When Judy visits Yuendumu, Geraldine loves to listen to Judy’s stories about a special country, Mina Mina. Mina Mina is a Warlpiri place to the west of Yuendumu. At Mina Mina, a group of ancestral women gathered a vine called Ngalyipi which grows on the Kurrkara (desert oak). Ngalyipi is a sacred vine to the Napangardi and Napanyangka women and is used as a ceremonial wrap or as a strap to carry Parrajas (wooden food bowls). Ngalyipi also has medicinal uses. Geraldine also paints alongside her mother Alma and sister Sabrina and observes them while they paint. She is working hard to develop a modern interpretation of the traditional culture.