Margaret Nangala Brown, Yumari Rockhole, 70x50cm

• Aboriginal Artist - Margaret Nangala Brown
• Community - Ikuntji (Haasts Bluff)
• Aboriginal Art Centre - Ikuntji Artists
• Catalogue number - 18-MB264
• Materials - Acrylic on canvas  
• Size(cm) - H70 W50 D2
• Postage variants - Artwork posted un-stretched and rolled for safe shipping.
• Orientation - Painted from all sides and OK to hang as wished

This painting depicts the Yumari Tjukurrpa that was passed down from her father, from her grandfather’s line and country. Yumari country is located west of Kintore, in the Gibson Desert. Margaret paints the tali (sandhills), puli (rocks) and kapi (rockholes) that make up the country. In the early days, Nampitjinpa and Janpitjinpa women and men would travel there from surrounding areas to meet, camp and do ceremony as well as eat and drink the variety of flora and fauna in the lush area. Around the rock holes, women and men sing and dance. Camels, bluetongue lizards, goanna’s, emus, kangaroos, bush turkeys and other tucker are abundant. In Yumari there is always water and greenery, though it is forbidden to swim there. This water is only for drinking and sharing.

Women and men continue travelling today to Yumari in Toyotas to camp, meet and hunt. Grandmothers make wanganu (damper) on the big fire and men hunt with kulata (spear) and Kali (boomerang). Now people come from all around, white fellas too, to see the water.

Margaret Brown Nangala was born in Papunya in 1968 and comes from Kiwirrkurra Community in the Western Desert of Central Australia. Margaret has worked with several galleries but has worked closely with Ikuntji Artists for the past few years. She has been visiting Haasts Bluff for many years. Margaret is Alice Nampitjinpa Dixon’s niece, from her father’s line. She remembers walking with Alice to Haasts Bluff when she was younger. Margaret remembers coming to see Alice and her mob painting. “I saw Alices good painting. Then I started painting.”

Margaret typically paints women’s ceremonies within her artworks; however she also depicts the Tingari Cycle which shares the Dreaming story of a group of ancestral beings that emerged from the earth during the time of the creation. This is referred to as the Tjukurrpa. Her women’s ceremony artworks depict ceremonial sites near her homelands of Kiwirrkurra. This countryside is well known for its sand hill country. The Tingari ancestral women crossed this particular country as they made their way towards Wilkinkarra.

A lot of stories are still being recounted of long journeys of people from various language groups, who travelled from rockholes and waterholes to caves and mountains finally arriving at Haasts Bluff. The locals, Luritja people of Haasts Bluff, were already here. Thus Haasts Bluff is a community rich of diversity in language and culture.

Ikuntji Artists was first established in 1992, after a series of workshops with Melbourne artist Marina Strocchi, and under the influence of the then community president, the late Esther Jugadai. The art centre was initially set up to fulfill the role of women’s centre providing services such as catering for old people and children in the community. After first experiences made in printing T-shirts, the artists began producing acrylic paintings on linen and handmade paper, which quickly gained the attention of the Australian and international art world as well as earning the centre an impressive reputation for fine art. The focus changed from a women’s centre to an art centre in 2005 with the incorporation of the art centre as Ikuntji Artists Aboriginal Corporation.

The artists draw their inspiration from their personal ngurra (country) and Tjukurrpa (Dreaming). They interpret the ancestral stories by using traditional symbols, icons, and motifs. The artistic repertoire of Ikuntji Artists is diverse and includes for example naive as well as highly abstract paintings told by each artist in their personal signature style. Throughout the 21 years of its existence, the art movement in Ikuntji has flourished and constantly left its mark in the fine art world. At the same time, the art centre has been the cultural hub of the community, maintaining, reinforcing and reinvigorating cultural practices through art-making.

Today Ikuntji Artists has eight key artists, who exhibit in Australia and internationally. They are represented in major collections across the globe.

Text: Melanie Greiner, Alison Multa and Dr Chrischona Schmidt