Lappi Lappi is an area near Lake Hazlett, about 90 km northwest of Lake Mackay in Western Australia. The country belongs to Nampijinpa/Jampijinpa and Nangala/Jangala skin groups. Located in a sheltered basin, the rock hole at Lappi Lappi is a permanent source of water, and is surrounded by country rich in bush tucker. In the time of the Jukurrpa (Dreamtime) many mothers with young children would gather there because it was a safe place to stay.

Magda Nakamarra Curtis was born in 1967 and lives in an area close to the remote Aboriginal community of Yuendumu, 290 km north/west of Alice Springs in the Northern Territory of Australia.

As a child Magda would often watch her grandmothers and grandfathers paint and listen to them as they told her stories of their country. Her Grandparents have passed away since but her Big Sister Mary Anne Nampijinpa Michaels is like a Grandmother to her. She likes painting her Bib Sister’s dreaming, Lappi Lappi Jukurrpa, a rock hole in country belonging to her grandmother. Besides painting Lappi Lappi Jukurrpa, Magda paints her Ngapa Jukurrpa (Water Dreaming) Jajiidi Jukurrpa (Western Quoll Dreaming) and Wardapi Jukurrpa (Goanna Dreaming), Dreamings which relate directly to her land, its features and animals.

When not painting Magda loves spending time hunting for goannas and traditional bush foods in the countryside around Nyirripi and Yuendumu.