Tali (Sandhill Country), 2001 by Barbara Napangarti Reid 61x122cm

This work by Barbara is her Minyma Tingari (Women’s Dreaming) and represents aspects of the secret and sacred Tingari Cycle, a spiritual amalgam that incorporates story, song and ceremony. It narrates the stories of the Tingari ancestors who traveled vast stretches of the country performing rituals, which in turn brought into being the land formations of particular sites.

She depicts the Tingari women – represented by the U shapes – as they gather and work within their country, erecting wind breaks. All around them are the features of this landscape: puli or rock formations, represented here by the stratified, elongated U shapes: and tali – the waving horizontal lines depicting the sweeping sand dunes.