Sandhills, 2004 by Dorothy Napangardi 91x91cm

Sandhills (2004) by Dorothy Napangardi – A Timeless Depiction of Mina Mina

In Sandhills (2004), acclaimed Warlpiri artist Dorothy Napangardi masterfully portrays the endless, shifting sandhills that define her ancestral Country. This sacred landscape is the Mina Mina ceremonial site, located near Lake Mackay in the Tanami Desert, north of Yuendumu, Northern Territory.

Mina Mina consists of two vast soakage areas and rolling sand dunes, forming a sacred site where Warlpiri women, including Dorothy and her Napanangka aunts, perform rituals of dance and song to pass on Tjukurrpa (Dreaming stories).

Tjukurrpa and the Ancestral Women’s Journey

During the Tjukurrpa (Dreaming era), ancestral women of the Napangardi and Napanangka kinship groups gathered at Mina Mina to collect ceremonial digging sticks (karlangu) that had emerged from the ground. As they travelled eastward toward Jankinyi, they performed sacred songs and dances, shaping the land through their movements.

Today, a majestic forest of Desert Oaks( Allocasuarina decaisneana ) stands where these digging sticks once emerged, marking the continuing presence of ancestral spirits in the landscape.

Endless Sandhills in Motion

Dorothy Napangardi’s intricate dot work, filtering ochre tones within her signature black and white , evokes the constant flux of the desert sands, capturing their ever-changing patterns as they are sculpted by the wind. This aerial perspective allows the viewer to experience the landscape as both a physical and spiritual map, reflecting the ancestral journeys that shaped the land.