Jacinta Numina Napanangka / Thorny Lizard Dreaming (5A)

Born: 1967
Community: Utopia, Central Desert
Outstation: Stirling Station
Language: Anmatyerre

Jacinta Numina was born at Stirling Station, Central Australia in 1965 and is niece to the world acclaimed Petyarre sisters from Utopia. In the early eighties she started painting with a group of lady elders from the Utopia region. The central theme of her artwork relates to her knowledge of the Anmatyerre (Women`s) Law and her country.

In 1996, Jacinta moved to Darwin to formally study art at Charles Darwin University and completed her Associate Degree in Art and Design in 2003. The next year saw Jacinta complete her traineeship in printmaking and was then appointed as a fulltime printmaker at Northern Editions, she currently works with the NT Government.

Jacinta paints mainly on canvas but she has also painted artefacts such as shields, coolamons and didgeridoos.

This painting depicts the story of the skin of the “thorny devil” which is referred to by Anmatyerre people as “mountain devil lizard”. The thorny devil is a beautifully patterned dragon-like creature with barbs and humps across its back and large, bulging protuberances on its head, camouflaging its eyes. Surviving on small insects, it inhabits the dune areas of the country and can be found across much of the Western Desert. The lizard is said to change colours in the desert as the sun rises and sets and the dew catches upon their skin reflecting the ability of the Mountain Thorny Devil Lizard to change from plain to vivid colours. A very detailed work created by a series of swirls in the alluring colours of yellow, orange, red, pink and white. It captures a feeling of gentle transition and movement.