Footnotes

• PROVENANCE:
  Painted in 2006
  Warlukurlangu Artists Aboriginal Corporation, Yuendumu
  
  This painting was executed in 2006 after a happy and successful bush trip to Mina Mina with Dorothy Napangardi, her father Paddy Japanangka Lewis and sister Betsy Napangardi Lewis. Mina Mina is located 300 north-west of Yuendumu. The isolation and difficulty of getting to the country made the trip a very special event and this was the last time that her sister, already very sick, would be able to visit her country. During the night they painted their bodies with the relevant body designs and they sang the songs associated with the story. When the family returned to the art centre at Yuendumu at the end of the trip Dorothy fulfilled a life long dream of painting a collaborative canvas with her dad and sister. This unique occasion took place in the verandah of the newly renovated art centre. Dorothy, Paddy and Betsy painted the canvas while they sang songs related to the Mina Mina (Jukurrpa) story and country and they recalled the last trip they would have together to that special place.
  
  Cecilia Alfonso, Manager, Warlukurlngu Artists Aboriginal Corporation, Yuendumu
  
  The painting is sold with accompanying Warlukurlangu Artists Aboriginal Corporation documentation that reads: 'The country associated with the painting is Mina Mina, a place far west of Yuendumu, significant to the Napangardi and Napanangka women who are the custodians of the Dreaming that created the area. The Dreaming describes the journey of a group of women of all ages who travelled east gathering food, collecting Ngalyipi (Tinospora smilacina or snake vine) and performing ceremonies as they travelled. The women began their journey at Mina Mina where karlangu (digging sticks) emerged from the ground. Taking these implements the women travelled east creating Janyinki and other sites. Their journey took them eventually beyond Warlpiri country. The central motif in this painting is Ngalyipi, snake vine, which grows along the trunks and boughs of desert oak. Ngalyipi is a vine sacred to Napangardi and Napanangka women and has many uses. It is used as a ceremonial wrap, as a strap to carry parrajas laden with bush tucker and as a torniquet for headaches.'

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Category: Fine Art / Aboriginal Art

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