Two carpet snakes mating by Bonita Nungurrayi Williams 31x41cm CAN-BW-11

"Two Carpet Snakes Mating" by Bonita Williams explores the fecundity and continued proliferation of the species. The snake's ability to disappear into the earth and reappear elsewhere has endowed it with symbolic power in stories and art. In Aboriginal Australia, the snake is revered as a Creation Ancestor, with its journeys shaping the landscape.

During the Tjukurpa (Creation times), the Kuniya, or non-venomous carpet snakes, traveled from Paku-Paku, a waterhole near Mount Conner west of Uluru, to a large flat sandhill with a central waterhole.

Bonita Nungurrayi Williams, born in Alice Springs in 1971, has dedicated most of her life to her hometown, with some time spent traveling in Western Australia. She has been painting for about eight years, learning from her mother, an artist from Ti Tree who speaks Anmatyerre. Married with four children, Bonita honors her heritage through her art. Her totems are the goanna and snake, and she frequently paints bush foods like witchetty grubs, honey ants, and berries, highlighting her deep cultural connections.