Gracie Napangardi Johnson / Mina Mina Dreaming

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

Gracie Napangardi Johnson was a very active member of the Yuendumu community, a remote Aboriginal community located 290kms north-west of Alice Springs in the Northern Territory of Australia. She worked tirelessly throughout her life being strongly involved with the Woman’s Centre; the Old People’s Program in which she was on the governance committee: and an active member of the Night Patrol Service. She has been described as a very caring and loyal friend, concerned for the welfare of her friends and others. She also took on the responsibility for the upbringing and caring of her many ádoptive’daughters.

Gracie painted with the Warlukurlangu Artists Aboriginal Corporation from 2001 until her death in 2013. Being heavily involved in the Women’s Law and Culture and very proud of her Dreamings she believed that painting was a way of sharing and documenting them. She painted her mother’s and her father’s dreamings (Jukurrpas). These Dreamings relate directly to her land, its features and the plants and animals that inhabit it. They have been passed down to her by her parents and their parents before them for at least fifty millennia.

Mina Mina is the area or country this painting is depicting.  It is far west of Yuendumu and is very important to the Napangardi/Napanangka women.  These women and their Japangardi/Japanangka brothers, are the custodians of the Jukurrpa that created the area.  This story (Dreaming) tells of the journey of a group of women who travelled east gathering food, ngalyipi‟ (snake vine [Tinospora smilacina]) and performing ceremonies as they journeyed. The ‘ngalyipi’ vine grows up the trunks and branches of the ‘kurrkara’ (desert oak trees. ‘Ngalyipi’ is a sacred vine to Napangardi and Napanangka women that has many uses. It can be used as a ceremonial wrap, as a strap to carry ‘parrajas’ (wooden bowls) that are laden with bush tucker and as a bandage for headaches.

The women began their travels at Mina Mina where karlangu (digging sticks) emerged from the ground. Taking these tools the women travelled east creating Janyinki and other sites. Their travels took them eventually further than Warlpiri country. The women used the karlangu‟ to gather bush tucker on their travels. In contemporary Warlpiri paintings traditional iconography is used to represent the Jukurrpa, connected sites and other elements. The main theme used in paintings of these Dreaming are the karlangu.