Women's Dreaming, 2001 by Nancy Ross Nungurrayi 61x91cm Cat 6600NN

"Women's Dreaming, 2001" by Nancy Ross Nungurrayi depicts a significant sacred site where women, represented by the U-shapes gather for ceremonies. In the Tjukurrpa (Creation Era), Tingari women stopped here and created the surrounding landscape of sandhills and rock escarpments, symbolised by the arc shapes. All these designs are worn as body paint on the upper torso and arms.

Nancy Nungurrayi, a highly respected Western Desert artist, was born in 1935. Until the assimilation period in the mid-to-late '60s, she lived a traditional lifestyle northwest of Kintore with her sister Naata Nungurrayi and extended family at a site called Maya, where she was born, and later at Wala Wala, west of the Kiwirrkura Community.

A finalist in the 2001 Telstra National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Awards, she exhibited widely within Australia and overseas. Her work is represented in many collections, including the National Gallery of Victoria (NGV), the Art Gallery of New South Wales (AGNSW), the Queensland Art Gallery of Modern Art (QAGOMA), the Art Gallery of South Australia (AGSA), and the University of New South Wales (UNSW). Nancy passed away in 2009.Nancy's subject matter is often body paint designs that are painted on women's breasts during women's ceremonies. There is a beautiful fluidity and gestural quality to her work.