005
Dorothy
Napangardi
Warlpiri (born 1956)
Salt on Mina Mina, 2007
synthetic polymer paint on canvas
122.5 x 202cm
PROVENANCE
Painted in Alice Springs, NT, 2007
Private commission through Boomanulla Vern Williams, a relative of the
artist by marriage; accompanied by four colour photographs of the artist
with the work (two signing).
Private Collection, NSW
Mina Mina, to the far west of Yuendemu is country significant to Napangardi
and Napanangka women, who are the custodians of the Dreaming that created
the area. The dreaming describes the journey of a group of women who travelled
east gathering food. The abstract qualities of the painting actually represent
a strong narrative basis for the work. Linear tracings across the canvas
mimetically trace the movements and activities of the Women Ancestors
as they dance their way through spinifex and over sand hills. They repeat
the natural formations of the environment and, as such, deal very much
with the real as opposed to the abstract.
[ref: “Form and Content” in Dancing Up Country, The Art of Dorothy
Napangardi (ibid.) pp 72, 72.]
In this work, Dorothy has used red for the earth, and white to represent
topographical features, as well as the trails of the women as they cross
country. Unlike earlier versions of this style (see Dancing Up Country,
plate 22, p34 and plate 28, p40), the artist has used a more minimalist
approach, and pared back her concentration of lines, the effect of which
is to reinforce the power and inter-connectedness of the songlines that
cut across country.