artist – Naata Nungurrayi
Artist’s profile »

community – Central & Western Desert

title: Marrapinti

year painted: 2007

dimensions: 152 x 122cm
medium: Acrylic on linen
code: 396

stretched: yes

This artwork can be viewed at our Noosa gallery.

See all artworks by Naata Nungurrayi

about this painting:  This painting depicts the creation events at the rock hole site of Marrapinti, west of Kiwirrkura. A group of senior women camped at this site where they gathered bush raisin.  The dried fruit is ground to make damper, or seed cake.  The linear appearance of the painting design depicts the alignment of the topography in the landscape near Naata’s homeland.  The pre-dominantly east-west alignment of the landscape had a strong influence on the movements of the nomadic Indigenous people.  During ceremony the women will “act out” the activities of ancestral beings and the songlines are performed in a repetitive manner.  The rock hole sites have been a reliable source of drinking water and as such remain important ceremony sites to celebrate the activities of ancestral beings.

This spectacular painting is accompanied by approximately 40 photographs of Naata working on her painting.