Skin: Pwerl/Pula

Language: Alyawarr

Region: Atnwengerrp, central Australia

Dreaming: Wild Orange - anemangkarr

Teresa Purla (also known as Pula and Pwerle)

Born in 1963, third generation Anmatyerre artist Teresa Purla is daughter of artist Barbara Weir (deceased) and granddaughter of Minnie Pwerle (deceased) - two of Australia’s most internationally revered contemporary Indigenous artists.

Throughout her formative years Teresa had observed her mother and grandmother paint often alongside the great Emily Kngwarreye Kame. With encouragement from her mother and aunties she began painting in her twenties.

"I was inspired to start painting in the 1990s with my mother after spending years at my homelands of Utopia, where I witnessed and took part in ceremonies and was taught my dreamings. I was surrounded at that time by artists such as my mother Barbara Weir and my aunty Gloria Petyarre." Teresa Purla

Her paintings are characterised by dots representing dancing tracks imprinted in the sand by the women during Awely ceremonies and other totems and imagery of women’s summer ceremonies. Some works are heavily detailed and depict minute dancing tracks and storylines, others are multi layered in the ochres and earth colours of her land.

Teresa’s paintings have been widely exhibited nationally, as well as featuring in several European countries including a highly successful joint exhibition with Minnie Pwerle entitled Grandmother and Granddaughter.

Teresa Purla and her partner are now permanently based on her grandmother’s country of Atnerrwerrp in the  Utopia region, NT - the physical and spiritual heart of her homeland, the ideal environment in which to paint.  

Exhibitions:

2000: Mbantua Gallery, Alice Springs, NT

2001: Quadrivium Gallery, Sydney, NSW

2003: My Grandmother and Me, World Vision Walkabout, Sydney, NSW

2007: Grandmother and Granddaughter - Minnie Pwerle and Teresa Pula November

2013: Installation: The Red Centre Garden Canberra's botanic garden. The Central Meeting Place is a highlight of the Red Centre Garden. It features a paved artwork with a stunning interpretation of Country by Indigenous artist Teresa Purla.

2020: Tandanya (National Aboriginal Cultural Institute) Atnwengerrp - Our Apmere, Our Country 30 year anniversary exhibition.