Karntakurlangu Jukurrpa, 2008
Artist: Dorothy Napangardi
Region: Central Desert
Medium/Type: Painting
Size:
91 x 76 cm
(Artwork can be rotated)
Catalogue Number: 13807DN
Status: Exhibition SYDNEY
Internationally acclaimed artist Dorothy Napangardi is known for her striking matrix designs that sing the story of the ancestral women dancing across the country of Mina Mina; across the terrain; around the soakages of Mina Mina and the crustations that form when rainwater recedes; through the spinifex clumps and over the sand hills. In the painting she using purple and yellow ochre, on a brown background.
Karntakurlangu literally translates from Warlpiri language into ‘Belonging to Women’. Mina Mina, a sacred women’s site, is located on the far west border of the Northern Territory, near the Western Australian border, close to the great salt lake of Lake MacKay. It comprises of a large claypan that fills with water after rain surrounded by large desert oak trees.
During the Dreaming women of the Napangardi (Dorothy’s ‘skin’ name) and Napanangka (aunties for the Napangardi kinship) sang and danced this country into existence. This is how traditional knowledge is passed on – from auntie (father’s sisters) to niece.
This work is featured on page 38 in the monograph: Honouring and Remembering the Art and Life of Dorothy Napangardi, 1987-2013
Extract from publication: include Karntakurlangu Jukurrpa, 2008 - Cat 13807DN (The Story of Mina Mina | page 38)
Dorothy Napangardi
Regions: Central Desert, Western Desert
One of the leading artists of the contemporary Aboriginal art movement, Napangardi’s work is highly sought after by both collectors and curators worldwide. Her paintings and prints have been widely exhibited and are in all national collections within Australia and in major collections worldwide including most recently the MET, New York. Napangardi had the honour of being the 2nd indigenous artist to be given a solo survey exhibition at the MCA (Museum of Contemporary Art), Sydney that traced 11 years of her painting career in 1991.