Bethany Nakamarra Langdon / Flying Ant Dreaming (1A)

Artwork is accompanied by Warlukurlangu Artists (Yuendumu) Art Centre Certificate of Authenticity/Provenance

“I love all the different colours and how you make patterns and create three-dimensional artwork.”

Bethany Nakamarra Langdon was born in Yuendumu in 1989. When she was little she moved with her mother Charlotte Langdon and her step-father Joseph Egger (Austrian) to Alice Springs. Bethany went to school in Alice Springs where her favourite subject was Art. When she finished school she moved back to Yuendumu and found work at the local swimming pool. In Yuendumu she met Shaun Wilson and they have been together since 2008. They have a daughter and a son as well as Bethany’s eldest daughter, Alice, from a previous relationship.

Although Bethany learnt art at school, she was taught dot painting by her Grandmother, Maggie Napaljarri Ross, a prolific painter with Warlukurlangu Artists since 1987 and her Mother, Charlotte Napanangka Langdon who also painted with the art centre for several years. Her maternal and paternal Grandmothers taught her all about her mother’s and father’s Dreaming.

Bethany has been painting with Warlukurlangu Artists Art Corporation since 2005. She paints her mother’s dreaming stories relating to Mount Theo which include Yarla Jukurrpa (Bush Potato) and Yurrampi Jukurrpa (Honey Ant Dreaming); and her Father’s dreaming which includes Kangaroo Dreaming and Pamapardu Jukurrpa (Flying Ant Dreaming).

When Bethany is not painting and looking after her children, she likes to travel to visit her family, especially her step-father’s family in Victoria and her Mum, who lives in South Australia.

This painting depicts the Flying Ant Dreaming from Wapurtali, west of Yuendumu. ‘Pamapardu’ is the Warlpiri name for the flying ants or termites that build the large anthills found throughout Warlpiri country. This country belongs to Nakamarra/Napurrurla women and Jakamarra/Jupurrurla men. ‘Pamapardu’ are flying ants. They build earth mounds (‘mingkirri’) that are common in the Tanami area. When heavy rains come in summer the ‘mingkirri’ get flooded out, so the ‘pamapardu’ grow wings and fly off to make new homes, following their queens to dry mounds or to build anew. When they have found their new home they drop their wings. In this stage they can be collected, lightly cooked in coals and eaten. As they fall to the ground women collect them to eat because they are nice and sweet. In this painting Maria has depicted the flowers and landscape found around the areas where the flying ants are found.