Salt at Mina Mina (2008) by Dorothy Napangardi, 198x152cm Cat 13589DN

Using a myriad of white dots set against a black background Dorothy has created a shifting sea of vibrating lines that gathers and disperses across the canvas. Like the sandhills in constant flux around and through the artist’s country so too does this painting move, backwards and forwards, the rippling effect produced so like that of the wind’s tracks in the sand.

This painting shows yet another development in the ever-evolving style of Dorothy Napangardi. As with all of this artist’s works, this painting revolves around the sacred site of Mina Mina. Made up of two enormous soakage areas and endless sandhills, it is here that Dorothy and her aunts (Napanangkas) perform rituals of dance and song as part of their passing on of Jukurrpa.

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.

This work is featured on double pages 29 in the monograph: Honouring and Remembering the Art and Life of Dorothy Napangardi, 1987-2013