Marilyn Maria Nangala Turner / Mina Mina Dreaming

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

Marilyn Maria Nangala Turner was born in 1979 in Alice Springs Hospital, the closest hospital to Nyirripi, a remote Aboriginal community 450 km north-west of Alice Springs in the NT of Australia. She is the granddaughter of Paddy Japanangka Lewis (Dec), multi-talented, he was both a successful artist with Warlukurlangu Artists and a performer featuring in a number of feature films.

When Marilyn Maria was little she went to Yuendumu Primary School for a short while then to Yirara College, an Aboriginal college in Alice Springs. She did further studies at Batchelor College, Alice Springs. In 2005 she returned to Nyirripi. She has one boy born in 2007.

Marilyn likes painting, “It makes me feel better”. She has been painting since 2006, shortly after the Art Centre started dropping off canvas, paint and brushes for artists living in Nyirripi. She mainly paints her Grandfather’s Jukurrpa stories, Mina Mina Jukurrpa, Dreamings associated with her grandfather’s country Mina Mina, a place far to the west of Nyirripi and Yuendumu, which is significant to Napangardi/Napanangka women and Japangardi/Japanangka men. All of them are the custodians of the Jukurrpa that created the area. Marilyn Maria is working hard to develop a modern interpretation of her traditional culture. She has had one solo exhibition and has exhibited in a number of Group Exhibitions.

When Marilyn Maria is not painting or looking after her son she likes to go hunting.

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‟