Inawinytji Stanley, Minyma Kutjara (Two Women Near Ernabella), 100x98cm

• Aboriginal Artist - Inawinytji Stanley
• Community - Pukatja/Ernabella
• Aboriginal Art Centre - Ernabella Arts 
• Catalogue number - 448-24
  
• Materials - Professional artist acrylic on heavy cotton canvas
• Size(cm) - H100 W98 D2
• Postage variants - Artwork posted un-stretched and rolled for safe shipping
• Orientation - Painted from all sides and OK to hang as wished

There are many stories about the two sisters (Minyma Kutjara). This part of the story is significant to the women of Ernabella. There was a gathering of minyma mingkiri (mouse women) at a hill called Yunanpa, which is near Ngarutjara (to the north of Ernabella). They are all collecting bushfoods together when the two sisters decide to go travelling. They travel to several water places to the north and east of Ernabella, including Alalka. They keep going until they get to Wamitjara, a waterhole near Kenmore Park. Here they come across a man sleeping. They hit him over the head with their wana (digging stick) and knock him unconscious. Then they tie up his arms and legs and head towards Alice Springs, carrying him between them. They sing and dance sacred women’s stories all the way. They leave him at Stuart’s Well, and continue on to Alice Springs to meet up with a large group of women.

Inawinytji is the daughter of renowned artist and one of the founding members of Ernabella Arts, Tjariya Nungalka Stanley. She is the younger sister of Renita and they come from a family that is strong in law and culture. Inawinytji first started working at the art centre alongside her mother in the 1990s, and was involved in several group exhibitions. She then left the community to live in Alice Springs, and after a long absence returned to Ernabella in 2008 and immediately became a very active participant in the art centre and the newly revived ceramics studio. As well as working on her own artistic development, Inawinytji has also mentored and encouraged her young niece, Janice Stanley, who is now a prominent Ernabella artist.