Tarkunpa (2008)
Artist: Mitjili Napanangka Gibson
Region: Western Desert
Size:
198 x 122 cm
(Artwork can be rotated)
Catalogue Number: 13569MN
Price: Enquire
This painting is about a site within the Wilkinkarra district between Wirnparrku and Kirrakurra submerged in the sandhills among golden spinifex, where Mitjili’s father first came into contact with Europeans on horseback. This is also Mitjili’s father’s country, consisting of low outcrops of oxide sandstone and gibbered claypans. This is also where Mitjili first came into contact with European at this site, as well.
Wilkinkarra is Lake Mackay itself. Mitjili says that this was a walkabout place for them. The dreaming story that exists on the lake that she can talk about to some degree, concerns a Tjapangardi man who spins a hair string from hair, “Like this one on my head”.
When Mitjili walked around the Wilkinkarra area, one of the main places where she grew up was Parrailpit, a large desert wetland area with many eucalyptus trees.
Mitjili Napanangka Gibson
Region: Kiwirrkurra (Gibson Desert), WA
When Miltjili was a young girl, her aunties would tell her stories about her country and the Jukurrpa or Dreaming stories associated with Mina Mina, a sacred site for Napanangka’s and Napangardi’s.