Karntakurlangu Jukurrpa, 2008 by Dorothy Napangardi 76x91cm Cat 13807DN

The first image is a closeup of the painting. Please click through the images to see the full painting and artist with work.

Internationally acclaimed artist Dorothy Napangardi is known for her striking matrix designs that sing the story of 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. In the painting she using purple and yellow ochre, on a brown background.

Karntakurlangu literally translates from Warlpiri language into ‘Belonging to Women’. Mina Mina, a sacred women’s site, is located on the far west border of the Northern Territory, near the Western Australian border, close to the great salt lake of Lake MacKay. It comprises of a large claypan that fills with water after rain surrounded by large desert oak trees.

During the Dreaming women of the Napangardi (Dorothy’s ‘skin’ name) and Napanangka (aunties for the Napangardi kinship) sang and danced this country into existence. This is how traditional knowledge is passed on – from auntie (father’s sisters) to niece.

This work is featured on page 38 in the monograph: Honouring and Remembering the Art and Life of Dorothy Napangardi, 1987-2013