Margaret Donegan, Kungkarangkalpa (Seven Sisters Story), 91x61cm

• Aboriginal Artist - Margaret Donegan
• Community - Kalka
• Aboriginal Art Centre - Ninuku Arts
• Catalogue number - 21-114
• Materials - Acrylic on canvas  
• Size(cm) - H91 W61 D2  
• Postage variants - Artwork posted un-stretched and rolled for safe shipping
• Orientation - Painted from all sides and OK to hang as wished

This is a major Tjukurpa for Irrunytju (Wingellina) and across the central Australian deserts. The seven sisters travelled from Kaliwarra to Wannan in Western Australia, stopping at significant sites and rockholes including Kuru Ala, a sacred place for women. They encountered a lusƞul man named Wati Nyiru, who chased them around the desert. Some of the details of this Tjukurpa (Dreaming story) are sacred and can’t be repeated.

Margaret Donegan is the daughter of renowned artist Jimmy Donegan (Telstra Award winner in 2010) and was born in Alice Springs in 1971. As a little girl she was unwell and lived in Adelaide at the Children's Hospital before moving to Amata where her father worked as a stockman. The family then moved Pipalyatjara in the 1970's where she attended a small school called the Spinifex School. As an adult she lived in Blackstone in Western Australia and started her career there as a painter and arts worker. It was in Blackstone where she worked alongside her mother on the Tjanpi Toyota which won the Telstra Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island Art Award in 2005. She now lives with her family in Kalka Community where she continues her arts practice in painting, wood carving and basket making and is a key arts worker at the arts centre.

Margaret paints designs associated with the Minyma Kutjara, Wati Ngintaka and Seven Sisters stories.

Ninuku Arts is a wholly-Indigenous owned and governed Art Centre which supports artists from two communities - Pipalyatjara and Kalka. Each have populations of around 100-150 Anangu and the majority are Pitjantjatjara speakers – Anangu simply means ‘people’ in Pitjantjatjara. Both communities are located in the far north-western corner of South Australia, near the tri-state border of South Australia, Western Australia and Northern Territory. The two communities, fourteen kilometres apart, are surrounded by the rolling, rocky hills of the Tomkinson Ranges and are part of the Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara (APY) Lands. Both Kalka and Pipalyatjara are peaceful places. This is a result of strong governance, cultural engagement and pride among local Anangu. 

The Art Centre itself is located in Kalka and is housed in a mud-brick building (the only one in the Lands), which was built as an office in the early 1980’s by Anangu and white staff, and has since been extended to accommodate the growing number of artists keen to paint. A silver bullet caravan (formerly a mobile health unit) is also located on site, and has become a place for some artists to paint, mostly during the winter months while the morning sun warms the deck. Despite being the most remote art centre on the APY Lands, having limited working space and access to services, Ninuku Arts has continued to grow in success with each year. The artist’s commitment to both the art centre and painting is unflappable. The art centre prides itself on its inclusivity (providing opportunities for all generations) and embracing individuality in artists.