Mary Napangardi Brown, Mina Mina Jukurrpa - Ngalyipi, 91x61cm

• Artist - Mary Napnagardi Brown
• Community - Nyirripi/Kintore  
• Art Centre/Community organisation - Warlukurlangu Artists Aboriginal Corporation  
• Catalogue number - 813/17ny  
• Materials - Acrylic on linen
• Size(cm) - H91 W61 D2
• Postage variants - Artwork posted unstretched and rolled for safe shipping
• Orientation - Painted from all sides and OK to hang as wished

This ‘Jukurrpa’ (Dreaming) comes from Mina Mina, a very important women’s Dreaming site far to the west of Yuendumu near Lake Mackay and the WA border. The ‘kirda’ (owners) of this Dreaming are Napangardi/Napanangka women and Japangardi/Japanangka men; the area is sacred to Napangardi and Napanangka women. There are a number of ‘mulju’ (water soakages) and a ‘maluri’ (clay pan) at Mina Mina.

In the Dreamtime, ancestral women danced at Mina Mina and ‘karlangu’ (digging sticks) rose up out of the ground. The women collected the digging sticks and then travelled on to the east, dancing, digging for bush tucker, collecting ‘ngalyipi’ (snake vine [Tinospora smilacina]), and creating many places as they went. ‘Ngalyipi’ is a rope-like creeper that grows up the trunks and limbs of trees, including ‘kurrkara’ (desert oak [Allocasuarina decaisneana]). It is used as a ceremonial wrap and as a strap to carry ‘parraja’ (coolamons) and ‘ngami’ (water carriers). ‘Ngalyipi’ is also used to tie around the forehead to cure headaches, and to bind cuts.

The women stopped at Karntakurlangu, Janyinki, Parapurnta, Kimayi, and Munyuparntiparnti, sites spanning from the west to the east of Yuendumu. When they stopped, the women dug for bush foods like ‘jintiparnta’ (desert truffle [Elderia arenivaga]). The Dreaming track eventually took them far beyond Warlpiri country. The track passed through Coniston in Anmatyerre country to the east, and then went on to Alcoota and Aileron far to the northeast of Yuendumu and eventually on into Queensland.

In Warlpiri paintings, traditional iconography is used to represent the Jukurrpa and other elements. In many paintings of this Jukurrpa, sinuous lines are used to represent the ‘ngalyipi’ (snake vine). Concentric circles are often used to represent the ‘jintiparnta’ (desert truffles) that the women have collected, while straight lines can be used to depict the ‘karlangu’ (digging sticks).

Mary Napangardi Brown was born in a bush camp at Mt Doreen, an extensive cattle breeding station just south west of Yuendumu, a remote Aboriginal community 290 km north-west of Alice Springs in the Northern Territory of Australia. As a young girl, Mary lived a traditional lifestyle, learning about gathering bush tucker, bush medicine, making necklaces for ceremonies and Aboriginal law. Whilst Mary was still young, her family was picked up by a white man and moved to Yuendumu. She lived there for some time with her family and then with her husband and fellow artist, Mick “Pegleg” Jampijinpa Brown (Dec). Mary and Mick later moved to Mt Liebig and then onto Nyirripi, 200 km west of Yuendumu. Mary still lives in Nyirripi and is married to the well known Papunya Tula artist Ronnie Jampijinpa. Mary started to paint in the early 1990s. Mary’s sisters Jeannie Napangardi Lewis, Margaret Napangardi Brown and Margaret Napangardi Turner and her niece, Joy Nangala Brown are all successful artists working with Warlukurlangu Artists. She has three sons who live in Yuendumu. Mary has been painting with Warlukurlangu Artists Aboriginal Corporation, an Aboriginal owned and governed Art Centre in Yuendumu, since 2005. She lives in Nyirrpi a community 160 kms west of Yuendumu. As there is no art centre in Nyirrpi her painting history was sporadic and dependent on the availabiltiy of materials. However, since 2005 canvas, Warlukurlangu drops off canvas, paint and brushes for artists living in Nyirripi, on a weekly basis. Mary paints her Jukurrpa stories, Dreamings that relate to her land, its features and the plants and animals that live there. These stories were passed down to her by her father and his father’s father for millennia. Mary uses an unrestricted palette to develop a modern interpretation of her traditional culture. Mary is a grandmother and spends a lot of her time helping to take care of her grandchildren.