Karntakurlangu, 2008 by Dorothy Napangardi 76x91cm Cat 13804DN

In this stunning work the artist has created a striking matrix design using red ochre and buttery yellow on midnight blue background that sings the story of the ancestral women dancing across the country of Mina Mina ; across the terrain; around the soakages of Mina Mina and the crustations that form when rainwater recedes; through the spinifex clumps and over the sand hills.

This site is the artist’s custodial country located near Lake Mackay in the Tanami Desert, north of Yuendumu in the Northern Territory.

During the Jukurrpa Ancestral women of the Napangardi and Napanangka sub-section groups (aunt / niece relationship, in which knowledge is passed from one to the other) gathered to collect ceremonial digging sticks ( Karlangu ) that had emerged from the ground. They then proceeded east, performing rituals of song and dance, to the place known as Jankinyi. A large belt of Desert Oak trees ( Allocasuarina decaisneana ) now stand where these digging sticks once were.

Karntakurlangu literally translates from Warlpiri language into ‘Belonging to Women’. Mina Mina, a sacred women’s site, is located on the far west border of the Northern Territory, near the Western Australian border, close to the great salt lake of Lake MacKay. It comprises of a large claypan that fills with water after rain surrounded by large desert oak trees.

During the Dreaming women of the Napangardi (Dorothy’s ‘skin’ name) and Napanangka (aunties for the Napangardi kinship) sang and danced this country into existence. This is how traditional knowledge is passed on – from auntie (father’s sisters) to niece.