Salt on Mina Mina by Dorothy Napangardi Etching

"Salt on Mina Mina" by Dorothy Napangardi is a breathtaking limited edition etching, created in collaboration with Crown Point Press (CPP). This masterful artwork was produced by CPP's senior printmaker, Dena Schuckit, who traveled from San Francisco to work alongside Napangardi in Australia. The collaboration was initiated by fellow artist and printmaker Belinda Fox after Napangardi's prestigious win at the 2001 Telstra National Aboriginal Art Award. Recognizing Napangardi’s extraordinary talent, Fox and Schuckit helped bring this project to life. Gallery Gondwana's Roslyn Premont and Lotte Waters also accompanied Napangardi to San Francisco, where she personally approved the final prints.

The artwork depicts the sacred Mina Mina site, topographically characterized by large clay-pans that occasionally hold water. As the water dries, salt crusts form, creating unique textures across the landscape. In this striking black-on-white design, Napangardi portrays the salt crusts etched by the paths of women, their tracks interweaving and merging to tell their ancestral stories. The repetitive dotting technique is iconic in Napangardi's work, symbolizing both the land and the cultural journey of Warlpiri women.