Grandmother's country by Marie Napurulla, 57x143cm 14235MR

This elongated composition unfolds like a remembered journey across Luritja Country, carried through generations of women. At its core is the life of Marie Napurrula’s great-grandmother Imbana, a traditional bush woman born at Tempe Downs. A senior woman of the Luritja language group, her Country lies around Kings Canyon and the Mereenie Loop—land shaped by ceremony, travel, and deep ancestral knowledge.

Imbana’s daughter, Marie’s grandmother, was taken from her father at Jay Creek at the age of nine as part of the Stolen Generations. A bush child who did not speak English, her removal severed language, family, and place, leaving an absence that Marie’s paintings quietly address.

Born on 19 September 1967 in Waratah, New South Wales, Marie later returned to Alice Springs to reclaim what had been interrupted before her birth. Through painting, she reconnects with inherited knowledge and ensures its continuity by teaching her seven children the traditions, stories, and responsibilities of their Country.

In this work, Marie traces the ceremonial routes her grandmother’s family once travelled using two camels, moving between significant sites to attend ceremony and maintain Law. Concentric circles mark these places of gathering and renewal along the Luritja road linking Uluru and Kings Canyon, passing through Areyonga and Jay Creek before arriving at Hermannsburg (Ntaria).

By painting this sacred landscape, Marie transforms memory into presence. The work becomes an act of restoration—bringing comfort to her grandmother’s spirit while affirming her own enduring bond with Country.