Debra McDonald Nangala

DOB: 1963
BORN: Papunya, NT
LANGUAE GROOUP: Pintupi
COMMUNITY: Papunya, NT

Debra McDonald Nangala, was born at Papunya Camp. She is the granddaughter of the late Shorty Lungkata Tjungurrayi (c.1920-1987), who was a Pintupi man from Lake MacDonald in the Gibson Desert, Central Australia. In 1948 he moved to Haasts Bluff and Papunya, and both Debra and Shorty's stories refer to his country of Lake MacDonald. Debra was married to the nephew of Turkey Tolson and son of the great female artist Mitjili. Her paintings have been documented in Geoffrey & James Bardon's book "Papunya- A Place Made After the Story. The Beginning of the Western Desert Painting Movement".

The clan leader of this small group was Shorty Lungkata Tjungurrayi (c1920–1987) who was Debra McDonald’s grandfather. Shorty Lungkata became one of the well-known artists at Papunya during the 1970s and 1980s and his stories relate to the ancestral sites that he knew from his country near Lake MacDonald.

Debra Nangala McDonald is also related to artist Mitjili Napurrula through marriage, and has kept a close association with her mother in law, often painting alongside her. Recent works by Debra carry on the imagery and story that is closely connected to Mitjili, that of the Mulga trees that were traditionally used for making spears.