Cecily Napanangka Marshall / Women’s Dreaming (5A)

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

Cecily Napanangka Marshall was born in 1975 in Alice Springs Hospital, the closest hospital to Yuendumu, a remote Aboriginal community located 290km north-west of Alice Springs Hospital. Her parents were living in Yuendumu at the time but her mother passed away when she was young and her father moved to Mt Allan. Cecily was brought up by her Grandmother who has since died. She began her schooling in Alice Springs but attended the local school in Nyirripi when she moved in with her Grandmother. Cecily is a single mum with one daughter who attends Nyirripi Primary School. She has sisters and brothers who were also raised by her Grandmother.

Cecily began painting with Walukurlangu Artists Aboriginal Corporation located in Yuendumu since 2008. However, it wasn’t until 2013 that Cecily began to paint full-time. She paints her Grandmother’s and Grandfather’s Jukurrpa, stories that have been passed down the generations for millennia and relate directly to the land, its features and the plants and animals that inhabit it. Cecily particularly likes painting Karnta Jukurrpa (Women’s Dreaming) from her Grandmother’s side and Watiya-warnu Jukurrpa (Bush Seed Dreaming) from her Grandfather’s side.

Cecily likes to paint with her Grandmother’s sister, Phyllis Napurrurla Williams and her sister Valerie Napurrurla Morris. “I like the stories. I watch as they paint and tell me about the possum dreaming.”

When Cecily is not painting she likes to play sport, particularly basketball. These days she likes to go hunting for Yurrampi (Honey ants) and Ngarlkirdi (witchetty grubs).

This painting depicts Nakamarra and Napurrurla women hunting for bush foods. The ‘kirda’ (owners) for this story are Nakamarra/Napurrurla women and Jakamarra/Jupurrurla men. Yumurrpa and Wapurtali are two major Dreaming sites owned by the Nakamarra/Jakamarra and Napurrurla/Jupurrurla subsections; these sites are also associated with bush food Dreamings. Yumurrpa is a major waterhole to the northwest of Yuendumu and a ‘yarla’ (bush potato) Dreaming site. The area north of Wapurtali/Yintaramurru (Mt. Singleton) is a ‘wanakiji’ (bush tomato) Dreaming site.

Warlpiri women hunt for a number of different bush foods at different times of the year. These include ‘ngarlkirdi’ (witchetty grubs), ‘yunkaranyi’ (honey ants), ‘jintiparnta’ and ‘purlantarri’ (desert truffle), ‘yuparli’ (bush bananas), ‘janmarda’ (bush onions), ‘pirlala’ (bush beans), ‘ngarlajiyi’ (bush carrots), ‘wayipi’ (small bush carrots), and ‘yakajirri’ (bush raisins). Women traditionally dug for these foods using wooden ‘karlangu’ (digging sticks). The end of the digging sticks were charred and ground on a stone surface to create a bevelled edge. Today many Warlpiri women use crowbars (also called ‘karlangu’) to dig for bush foods. Collected bush foods are traditionally carried in ‘parraja’ (coolamons), which can be carried with a strap made from the ‘ngalyipi’ (snake vine).

In Warlpiri paintings, traditional iconography is used to represent the Jukurrpa and other elements. Concentric circles are often used to represent the bush foods that the women have collected, while straight lines can be used to depict the ‘karlangu’ (digging sticks). Sinuous lines are often used to represent the ‘ngalyipi’ (snake vine).