Inland Sea, 2003 by Dorothy Napangardi 150x30cm

>When it’s filled with water, there are so many waterbirds, shells, sea animals there hovering around it. Like seagulls and the seabirds, kestrels and things like that. It’s not really an inland sea but I can understand why non-indigenous people might describe it that way, think about it that way.

Maybe that’s why Dorothy thinks of an ‘inland sea’ – because that’s what it looks like, in a kind of a way, although it’s a lake, a lake that’s dry most of the time.

Source: Jeannie Herbert Nungarrayi (discussing Dorothy Napangardi’s Dreaming — Kana-kurlangu), Dancing Up Country, the art of Dorothy Napangardi, Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney NSW Australia.

Dorothy Napangardi's "Inland Sea" series offers a profound interpretation of the salt encrustations on the claypans of Mina Mina, a significant ceremonial Women's Dreaming site for the Warlpiri people. This sacred location, near Lake Mackay in the Tanami Desert of the Northern Territory, is central to the Karntakurlangu Jukurrpa(Women's Dreaming).

In these artworks, Napangardi captures the essence of Mina Mina, depicting the intricate patterns formed as rainwater recedes, leaving behind salt formations on the claypans. Her unique dotting technique illustrates the movement of ancestral women dancing across the landscape, navigating through spinifex clumps and over sandhills. This visual narrative reflects the journeys undertaken during the Dreaming, where women of the Napangardi and Napanangka skin groups collected ceremonial digging sticks, known as karlangu, that emerged from the ground.

Napangardi's connection to this land is deeply personal. She lived a nomadic existence with her extended family near Lake Mackay until a severe drought in the 1960s compelled many desert dwellers to relocate for survival. Years later, she returned to Mina Mina to participate in ceremonies that ensured the transmission of cultural knowledge.

The "Inland Sea" series stands as a testament to Napangardi's dedication to preserving and sharing the rich tapestry of Warlpiri culture and the profound significance of Mina Mina within it.

The first image is a closeup of this painting (please click through the images to see the full painting).