Karntakurlangu Jukurrpa (Women's Dreaming), 2007 by Dorothy Napangardi Cat 13180DN, 36x46cm

Before painting a large major work, Dorothy Napangardi would carefully consider what she wanted to achieve, and she would create preparatory ‘ esquisses ’ (sketches). Whilst these works, preceded and usually lead up to a major work, these ‘ esquisses ’ were of real interest and became works in their own right.

In this artwork the artist has created a striking yellow ochre, white on black designs, depicting 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.

During the Jukurrpa (Dreaming) 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 that had emerged from the ground from the desert oak trees ( Allocasuarina decaisneana ) which continue to grow today. They then proceeded east, performing rituals of song and dance, to the place known as Jankinyi.

Mina Mina, 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 stand of Desert Oaks ( Allocasuarina decaisneana ) now grow where these digging sticks emerged from the ground.