Pauline Napangardi Gallagher, Mina Mina Jukurrpa - Ngalyipi, 107x76cm

• Aboriginal Artist - Pauline Napangardi Gallagher
• Community - Nyirripi  
• Aboriginal Art Centre - Warlukurlangu Artists Aboriginal Corporation  
• Catalogue number - 1025/14ny
• Materials - Acrylic on linen
• Size(cm) - H107 W76 D2  
• Postage variants - Artwork posted un-stretched and rolled for safe shipping
• Orientation - Painted from all sides and OK to hang as wished

The country associated with this Jukurrpa is Mina Mina, a place far to the west of Yuendumu, which is significant to Napangardi/Napanangka women and Japangardi/Japanangka men. All of them are the custodians of the Jukurrpa that created the area. The Jukurrpa story tells of the journey of a group of women of all ages who travelled to the east gathering food, collecting ‘ngalyipi’ (snake vine [Tinospora smilacina]) and performing ceremonies as they travelled. The women began their journey at Mina Mina where ‘karlangu’ (digging sticks) emerged from the ground. Taking these implements the women travelled east creating Janyinki and other sites. Their journey took them far to the east beyond the boundaries of Warlpiri country. The ‘ngalyipi’ vine grows up the trunks and limbs of the ‘kurrkara’ (desert oak [Allocasuarina decaisneana]) trees. ‘Ngalyipi’ is a sacred vine to Napangardi and Napanangka women that has many uses. It can be used as a ceremonial wrap, as a strap to carry ‘parrajas’ (wooden bowls) that are laden with bush tucker and as a tourniquet for headaches.

Pauline Napangardi Gallagher was born in 1952 in Yuendumu. She went to the local school in Yuendumu and soon after married her promised husband who is now deceased. Pauline moved to Nyirripi in 1983 and still lives there. She has five children, three sons and two daughters; she also has fifteen grandchildren. Some of her family live in Nyirripi and the rest of her family live in Yuendumu, Kintore and Papunya, Aboriginal communities in the NT of Australia. Pauline’s country is Pikilyi (Vaughan Springs), a sacred water hole and located near Mount Doreen Station west of Yuendumu and approximately 350 km north-west of Alice Springs. Pauline has been painting since 2006 with Warlukurlangu Artists Aboriginal Corporation, an Aboriginal owned and governed art centre located in Yuendumu, a remote Aboriginal community 290 km north-west of Alice Springs in NT of Australia. She paints her father’s stories – Pikilyi Jukurrpa (Pikilyi Dreaming) and Mina Mina Jukurrpa (Mina Mina Dreaming), Dreamings that relate to her land, its features and animals. They have been passed down to her by her parents and their parents before them for millennia. She continues to paint through this art centre when she visits Yuendumu or when canvas, paint and brushes are dropped off in Nyirripi for artist by Warlukurlangu, as they have done since 2005. Pauline loves colour and uses an unrestricted palette to develop a modern interpretation of her traditional Aboriginal culture.