Saraeva Napangardi Marshall, Mina Mina Dreaming - Ngalyipi, 76x61cm

• Aboriginal Artist - Saraeva Napangardi Marshall
• Community - Yuendumu
• Aboriginal Art Centre - Warlukurlangu Artists Aboriginal Corporation
• Catalogue number - 1133/19
• Materials - Acrylic on linen
• Size(cm) - H76 W61 D2 
• Postage variants - Artwork posted un-stretched 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).

Saraeva Napaljarri Marshall was born on the 24 December 1996 to Julie Nangala Robertson (a Warlukurlangu Artist) and Nigel Japanangka Marshall. She is the grand-daughter of the well-known Telstra Award-winning artist, Dorothy Napangardi (Dec 2013).  Although born in Adelaide Hospital, Saraeva has spent her whole life in Yuendumu, a remote Aboriginal community 290 kms north-west of Alice Springs, in the Northern Territory of Australia.

Saraeva attends the local school and hopes to complete her secondary school studies in 2014. Once completed she would like to continue her studies in the visual arts and become a well known artist like her Mother and Grandmother. Although Saraeva has been painting from an early age with her mother and grandmother, she has been painting with Warlukurlangu Artists Aboriginal Corporation, an Aboriginal owned and governed art centre located in Yuendumu, since 2013. She paints her Grandmother’s Mina Mina Jukurrpa (Mina Mina Dreaming). Her grandmother would paint and tell her about the important women’s dreaming site, about the ancestral women travelling and dancing and performing ceremonies and creating the country as they travelled. These stories have been passed down through the generations for millennia. To depict her traditional Jukurrpa, Saraeva uses a wide range of colours and traditional iconography while developing a contemporary style.

When Saraeva is not studying or painting she likes to go hunting with her family for goanna and bush tucker.