Margaret Napangardi Lewis / Mina Mina Dreaming (2B)

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

Margaret Napangardi Lewis was born at Mount Doreen Station, an extensive cattle breeding station about 55 km west of Yuendumu in the Northern Territory. Margaret travelled around the country with her parents and went to school in Papunya then to the local school in Yuendumu, a remote Aboriginal community 290 km north-west of Alice Springs in the NT of Australia.

She is the daughter of Paddy Japanangka Lewis, a senior law man and artist. Margaret has two brothers, John and Willy and one sister Dorothy Napangardi Robertson, also a well-known artist working with Warlukurlangu Artists. Margaret is a Warlpiri woman who is now living in Nyirripi. She produced some paintings for Warlukurlangu Artists Aboriginal Corporation, an Aboriginal owned and governed Art Centre in Yuendumu, between 1986 and 2001 when she was living in Yuendumu. She also participated in the Yuendumu Batik program coordinated by Peter Toyne from 1986 to 1988. While living in Yuendumu she worked in the kitchen and at the Art Centre. She later moved to Nyirripi and it wasn’t until 2007 that she started painting on a regular basis. Her Dreamings are Karnta Jukurrpa (Women’s Dreaming); Ngalyipi Jukurrpa (Snake Vine Dreaming); and wanakiji Jukurrpa (Bush Tomato Dreaming).

Since 2009 Margaret has been painting Mina Mina Jukurrpa, Dreaming related to country located far west of Yuendumu on the border of the Tanami and Gibson Desert. She shares this country and dreaming with her ‘big sisters’ Betsy Napangardi Lewis and Judy Napangardi Watson. Mina Mina is a very important women’s dreaming site and has a long story in which a large group of ancestral women of all ages travel through the country dancing and performing ceremonies and creating the country as they go. When Margaret is not painting she loves to go hunting for bush tucker, especially bush potato, bush berries, bush banana and goanna.

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‟