Mantua was born at Tjulyurru circa 1959. She is the daughter of Anatjari Tjampitjinpa and the sister of George Yapa Tjangala, Ray James Tjangala and Yinarupa Nangala, all of whom have painted for Papunya Tula Artists. 

Mantua Nangala is a senior Pintupi Lore Woman and Papunya Tula artist. Her family was displaced from their Country during her childhood, and they moved between settlements across Western Australia for many years. In 1964, they were forcibly settled on the government reserve of Papunya, along with many other Pintupi, Anmatyerre, Warlpiri, and Arrernte peoples. In 1981, following the establishment of the Kintore and Kiwirrkura communities, Nangala relocated to Kintore, later settling in Kiwirrkura in Western Australia, the nearest community to her Pintupi homelands.

Nangala is the daughter of Anatjari Tjampitjinpa, and sister of Ray James Tjangala, Yinarupa Nangala, and George Yapa Tjangala, all illustrious Papunya Tula artists. Her Country lies west of Kiwirrkura and extends deep into the Gibson Desert, where rippling tali (sand dunes) dominate the landscape. Nangala began painting for Papunya Tula Artists in 1998, quickly developing a distinctive style to express her intimate connection to Country and impart the respective histories and narratives of place. Her painting practice relates to her Tjukurrpa (ancestral knowledge), particularly the epic travels of the Kanaputa women as they traversed the artist’s Country, their adventures shaping and creating many significant sites, including Mukula, Marrapinti, and Yunala.

Throughout her work, Nangala employs a fine dotting technique applied through a slow and meticulous process of mark-making. Rhythmic patterns sprawl across her canvases, manifesting themselves in a range of muted tonal gradients pierced by soft creamy whites. The resulting dotted undulations evoke the ever-moving tali of the Gibson Desert. This artful combination of the momentous and the minute conveys the significance of her Country, and her intimate knowledge of every detail.

Nangala’s mark-making creates the illusion of movement, reflecting both the immensity and the intricacies of the desert landscape—in particular, the interaction of light, wind, and sand.

The family are mentioned in Douglas Lockwood’s book The Lizard Eaters. 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.