Nurina Burton, Ngapari Tjukurpa, 91x71cm

• Aboriginal Artist - Nurina Burton
• Community - Ernabella
• Aboriginal Art Centre - Iwiri Arts 
• Catalogue number - 317-23
• Materials - Acrylic paint on canvas
• Size(cm) - H91 W71 D2
• Postage variants - Artwork posted un-stretched and rolled for safe shipping
• Orientation - Painted from all sides and OK to hang as wished

Nurina is painting her grandmother's country from a place on the west of Watarru, located in the APY lands in South Australia, near the Western Australian border. Ngapari Tjukurpa is about those little white spots you find on the leaves of itara (gum tree). This white residue is made by insects, sometimes people collect it, make it into a big round ball, and eat it. It tastes really good, sweet and soft. A delicious sweet snack.

Nurina was born at Ernabella Mission. She grew up there and attended Ernabella School as a child, moving to Alice Springs as a teenager to continue her education. She married and moved to Amata Community with her husband, where she has continued to live with her children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren. Nurina has had a long career working as a primary teacher at Amata school, and more recently as a translator on the Pitjantjatjara Bible project.

She has been making art for a long time, since her children were young, starting with Batik at Amata and then moving to painting which she continues today. Nurina paints her paternal grandmother's country, a secret and sacred site where Ngapari, sweet lerps, are found on eucalyptus leaves. 'Sometimes we take the kids to camp out there to teach the culture of the land so they can know our grandma's story'.

Iwiṟi was established by Aṉangu in 2018, many of whom had been forced to move to Adelaide due to chronic health conditions and lack of services in their home communities. Living far from their traditional homelands, Anangu were concerned about the cultural and social isolation they were experiencing and saw a need to act.  Iwiri was formed initially to help retain, promote and transmit Anangu culture and language through the areas of arts, language, knowledge and community. Since then Iwiṟi has grown rapidly into an organization that delivers  a range of programs that aim to strengthen and advance Aṉangu wellbeing.

Iwiri strengthens the Aṉangu community through cultural and arts activities, creating employment opportunities and enterprise development. We want our young people to be strong in their language and culture and to take up opportunities to work in our community.