Geraldine Napangardi Granites / Snake Vine Dreaming (2A)

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

Geraldine Napangardi Granites was born in 1978 at the remote Australian Aboriginal community of Yuendumu, in the Northern Territory, 290km northwest of the town of Alice Springs. She has lived there all her life. Geraldine has two sisters and one brother who also paint.

Geraldine’s mother is Alma Nungarrayi Granites, a strong participant in the arts centre in Yuendumu. Her grandparents – Paddy Japaljarri Sims and Bessie Nakamarra Sims (both have now passed away) – were two of the art centre’s founding painters.

Geraldine has four children: two sons and two daughters. She is a shy person who is very involved with her large extended family and enjoys being around children and helping the family’s grandchildren.

Geraldine learnt by observing her grandfather’s art as well as the late Judy Napangardi Watson’s work. When Judy visited Yuendumu, Geraldine loved to listen to Judy’s stories about a special country, Mina Mina. Mina Mina is a Warlpiri place to the west of Yuendumu. At Mina Mina, a group of ancestral women gathered a vine called Ngalyipi which grows on the Kurrkara (desert oak). Ngalyipi is a sacred vine to the Napangardi and Napanyangka women and is used as a ceremonial wrap or as a strap to carry Parrajas (wooden food bowls). Ngalyipi also has medicinal uses.

Geraldine also paints alongside her mother Alma and sister Sabrina and observes them while they paint. She is working hard to develop a modern interpretation of the traditional culture.

Group Exhibitions
2007- Shalom Gamarada Aboriginal Art Exhibition, Shalom College, Sydney, NSW
2010- 30 under May 30, Mossenson Gallery, Melbourne, VIC
2010- Gecko Gallery Exhibition, Gecko Gallery, Broome, NT
2013- Gestuelles – The Art of Transmission by Aboriginal Desert Women, IDAIA – International Development for Australian Indigenous Art, Alliances Francaises in Australia.

The country associated with this Snakevine Dreaming is located at Yanjirlpiri (meaning ‘star’ in Warlpiri) (Mt. Nicker) to the west of Yuendumu. The owners of this Dreaming are Napaljarri / Nungarrayi women and Japaljarri / Jungarrayi men.

Snakevine is a green creeper that climbs up the trunks and branches of trees and shrubs. The plant is found on sandy spinifex plains and sandhills. Snakevine is frequently depicted in paintings due to its many uses and its great ceremonial importance. The vine can be used as a shoulder strap to carry coolamons and water carriers. The plant also has medicinal uses; its vines are used as tourniquets, and its leaves and vines are used as bandages for wounds. Warlpiri sometimes also chew the leaves to treat severe colds. Snakevine stems can be pounded between stones and tied around the forehead to cure headaches. In men’s initiation it is used to tie the ceremonial poles to the shins of the dancing initiates, and to dancing boards to dancers’ bodies. The initiation ceremonies associated with the Snakevine Dreaming at Yanjirlpiri are for the sons and grandsons of Japaljarri and Jungarrayi men. Napaljarri and Nungarrayi women dance at these ceremonies, and then look away and block their ears when the men dance. This ‘witi’ ceremony is performed at night under the stars.