Kana-kurlangu (Digging Stick) by Dorothy Napangardi Etching

Created as part of a special collaboration between Napangardi and American Crown Point Press (CPP), this etching titled "Kana-kurlangu Jukurrpa (Digging Stick Dreaming)" showcases Dorothy Napangardi's artistic mastery. It is one of nine etchings produced with CPP's senior printmaker Dena Schuckit, who travelled from San Francisco to Australia to work closely with the artist. This collaboration was initiated by Belinda Fox, a fellow artist and printmaker, following Napangardi's win at the 2001 Telstra National Aboriginal Art Award. Fox, along with Schuckit, recognised Napangardi's exceptional talent and helped facilitate this iconic project. Gallery Gondwana's Roslyn Premont and Lotte Waters also accompanied Napangardi to San Francisco, where the artist finalised and signed off on the project. Belinda Fox went on to further collaborate with Napangardi over the years.

Digging Sticks are very important for women as they are used as a utilitarian object when hunting and collecting food but also in ceremonies that correspond to abundance and fertility. They are often placed in a hole in the centre of the sand paintings on the ceremonial ground and painted with ochre.

In the Dreaming it is the songs that Napangardi and Napanangka women sang that caused the Desert Oak trees to come out of the ground, creating the first digging sticks at the site of Mina Mina in the western desert.

Created in 2004, the medium used includes colour soap ground and sugar lift aquatints. The etching's dimensions are 46 x 59 cm (image) and 63 x 79 cm (paper), printed on Somerset Satin White paper. This limited edition of 50 pieces was produced by Crown Point Press, making it highly collectible among Indigenous Australian art enthusiasts