Yangi Yangi Fox, Mamungari, 91x91cm

• Aboriginal Artist -Yangi Yangi Fox
• Community - Pipalyatjara
• Aboriginal Art Centre - Ninuku Arts
• Catalogue number - 20-585
• Materials - Acrylic on canvas  
• Size(cm) - H91 W91 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 an ancestral story about Minyma Tjuta (lots of women spirits). Kalpama and Alkuwari – husband and wife – lived in a nest in a tree. Kalpama could not walk so he relied on his wife Alkuwari to go hunting for him. One day his evil grandson came by. When the grandson looked up, he noticed water coming down and, upon further inspection, he noticed it was Kalpama urinating. He became angry and got a firestick, lighting the tree and burning the nest where Kalpama lived. Alkuwari was out hunting for kuka (meat), but she noticed the smoke coming from Kalpama’s nest. She knew straight away that her evil grandson had burnt down the tree. She travelled to a place south-west of Watarru called Mamungari. There she started crying incessantly and called out to the Minyma (female spirit relatives) to come and help her. When the Minyma arrived, they all travelled back to where the boy was. He had made a long ladder out of branches and had climbed up a tree, where he was hiding. When the women tried to climb up towards him, the boy pushed the ladder down and all the spirit women fell down onto the ground. This is a minyma (women’s) site, where the ancestors still live today.

Yangi Yangi Fox (often referred to as Mrs Fox) was born in 1956 in Pukatja (Ernabella). As a young girl, she went to school at Ernabella Mission and later moved to the cattle station near the Amata community. During the homelands movement in the 1970s, she moved to Pipalyatjara to be closer to her traditional lands. Mrs Fox is a senior woman in the Pipalyatjara community and holds a position at the local health clinic. She is also an astute craftswoman and is an expert in punu (wood carving); she is a celebrated dancer and is heavily involved in culture and ceremony. Her two daughters, Renae and Tanisha, are both practising artists. Mrs Fox has a meticulous way of dottng and composing a painting which reveals her unique aesthetic, especially in contrast to the other female artists. Her tightly dotted technique and formal compositions create an optical feast for the viewer - her paintings waiver and radiate in simplistic elegance.

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.