Grandmother's country by Marie Napurrula 40x136cm, 14227MR

Marie’s grandmother, Imbana’s daughter, was taken as a child at just nine years old from Jay Creek, becoming part of the Stolen Generations. Raised away from her family and language, she was a bush child who did not speak English. This rupture—personal and cultural—resonates through Marie’s work.

Born on 19 September 1967 in Waratah, New South Wales, Marie later returned to Alice Springs with a powerful purpose: to relearn and pass on the family traditions and cultural knowledge that had been taken from her before she was born, and to teach these to her seven children.

In this painting, Marie recounts the ceremonial journeys her grandmother’s family once made—travelling by camel between significant sites along the Luritja road linking Uluru and Kings Canyon. The concentric circles mark sacred places visited along the way, passing through Areyonga and Jay Creek before arriving at Hermannsburg (Ntaria).

By painting her grandmother’s Country, Marie is not only mapping ancestral pathways across the desert landscape; she is also enacting a quiet act of healing—restoring memory, honouring spirit, and reconnecting past and present for future generations.