Louise Numina Napananka / Women’s Ceremony – Bush Melon Dreaming (LON320)

Louise was born in 1976 and is the daughter of Barbara Price Mbtitjana who is a senior painter and cultural elder from Stirling Station and Douglas Pananka Petyarre (deceased). Louise has five sisters, Jacinta, Lanita, Selina, Caroline and Sharon Numina, who are also well-respected artists from Utopia.

Louise, along with her sisters and brothers were sent to boarding school in Darwin as no secondary schooling was available in Tennant Creek, 500kms north of Alice Springs. Louise went on to complete a Diploma of Fine Arts from the Northern Territory University. After she completed her studies Louise moved back to Stirling Station and worked with the Community Development Program.

Louise’s family come from a long line of desert artists of the contemporary Aboriginal art movement including her world renowned aunties, the late Gloria and Kathleen Petyerre. Many women from the Petyerre, Mbtitjana and Numina family name hold custody and are knowledge keepers of stories such as Bush Medicine Leaves, Bush Tucker, Seeds, Soakage and Womens’ Ceremony, in common with other skin groups across the vast arid landscape and desert areas of central Australia.

Subjects of importance in the theme-series paintings are various bush tucker stories. Plant foods include wild berries, plums, onion, yam, seeds etc. Many animals can be depicted as a food source or as totems such as Thorny Devil Lizard and Dingo Tracks. Womens’ Ceremony, Awelye Body Art Ceremony are mostly painted by senior ladies but younger women need to know it from a young age. Some themes such as Bush Tucker can be open and universal and others can be secret and passed down through cultural ceremonies. Knowing, carrying and reinforcing these stories gives respect for Country and ancestors and shows responsibility and care of holding such stories to keep the stories and traditional practices alive. The knowledge must be retold repeatedly and handed on. The Numina Sisters have all been taught to paint by their elder painter grandmothers, mother-aunties and cousin-sisters connected across the Central Desert region.

Louise lives in Darwin with her husband and children. Her sisters also live in Darwin and they often travel back to Ti-Tree and Stirling Station in the north Utopia region near Tennant Creek.

This painting combines two important elements of women’s culture — body paint designs and bush tucker. The story tells of the bush melon, a sweet fruit that once grew in abundance around Atnwengerrp. The women would gather the fruit, remove the seeds, and eat it fresh or dry it for the months when food was scarce.

During ceremonies, women paint their bodies with curved lines, circles, and other symbolic designs representing the story being performed. These body paint patterns reflect connection to Country, ancestral stories, and the passing down of women’s knowledge.

Louise’s bold circular forms and rhythmic linework symbolise both the ceremonial sites and the bush melon fruit. Her use of vibrant colour and movement celebrates the strength, culture, and enduring traditions of the women of her Country.