Kirsty Anne Napanangka Martin / Mina Mina Dreaming (7A)

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

Kirsty Anne Napanangka Martin-Brown was born in Alice Springs Hospital, the closest hospital to Nyirripi, a remote Aboriginal community 450km north-west of Alice Springs in the Northern Territory of Australia. She is the daughter of Agnes Nampijinpa Brown and the grand-daughter of Molly Napurrurla Martin, both artists working with the Warlukurlangu Art Centre. She has one brother and one sister. Kirsty attended school in Nyirripi and in Yuendumu, a remote Aboriginal community 150km south-east of Nyirripi, before going to Kormilda College, an Aboriginal boarding college in Darwin. When she finished school she returned to Nyirripi where she first worked at the Nyirripi store and then at the Childcare Centre. She has two children.

Kirsty has been painting with Warlukurlangu Artists Aboriginal Corporation, located in Yuendumu, since 2005. Warlukurlangu Artists provides an outlet for Warlpiri artists to paint their cultural heritage and earn income from their work. This service is extended to Nyirripi artists, on a weekly basis, by delivering canvas and paint to artists and picking up finished artwork. Kirsty paints her Mina Mina Jukurrpa, Dreaming passed down on her father’s side. These stories, which relate directly to her land, its features and the fauna and flora that inhabit it, have been passed down for millennia. “I learnt about my culture…I know my dreaming. I feel proud and closer to my culture when I paint my country.” Kirsty uses traditional iconography with an unrestricted palette to develop a modern interpretation of her traditional culture.

When she’s not painting or working she likes to play softball or basketball as well as going hunting with friends.

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) 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”