Mantua Nangala is a Pintupi elder hailing from a long line of successful Papunya Tula artists. Mantua was born at Tjilurru circa 1959. She is the daughter of Anatjari Tjampitjinpa and the sister of Ray James Tjangala, Yinarupa Nangala and George Yapa Tjangala, all of whom have painted for Papunya Tula Artists. First expressing a desire to paint after observing her father, Anatjari Tjampitjinpa - a founding member of the Western Desert Art movement, Mantua began painting for Papunya Tula Artists (PTA) in 1988 and remains a leading member of the art centre today. Mantua lives and works at Kiwirrkura in Western Australia. She was commissioned to paint several large paintings for the 4th Indigenous Art Triennial at the NGA, and they subsequently acquired them for their collection.

In 2022, the National Gallery of Australia featured five large scale paintings by Mantua in their 4th Annual Indigenous Art Triennale exhibition, Ceremony, curated by Hetti Perkins. Manuta is also a two time Wynne Prize finalist in both 2023 and 2026.

Nangala’s works often depict the arduous journey of the ancestral Kanaputa women traveling from the west through Mukula, Marrapinti and Yunala - all considered sacred places of ceremony for the Pintupi women. Nangala uses a series of fine dots to represent the vast sand dunes that occupy much of her homeland of the Gibson Desert, one of the most remote Indigenous communities in Australia.

Often using no more than five colours per work, each one embodies a particular consciousness of the land in which she lives, ultimately standing as a testament to the Pintupi peoples’ cultural heritage within a larger historical framework of First Nations Australians.

Nangala’s practice offers audiences insight into the sacred history and beauty of Country, within a much larger network of storytelling and histories.

Her work has been the subject of major exhibitions. Most recently Art Basel Hong Kong with STATION (2025); S.H. Ervin Gallery, Sydney (2024 and 2023); Utopia Art Sydney (2023); Drill Hall Gallery, Australian National University, Canberra (2023); and the Kluge-Ruhe Aboriginal Art Collection, University of Virginia (2022).