Pauline Napangardi Gallagher / Mina Mina Dreaming (14A)

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

Pauline Napangardi Gallagher was born in 1952 in Yuendumu. She went to the local school in Yuendumu and soon after married her promised husband who is now deceased. Pauline moved to Nyirripi in 1983 and still lives there. She has five children, three sons and two daughters; she also has fifteen grandchildren. Some of her family live in Nyirripi and the rest of her family live in Yuendumu, Kintore and Papunya, Aboriginal communities in the NT of Australia.

Pauline’s country is Pikilyi (Vaughan Springs), a sacred water hole and located near Mount Doreen Station west of Yuendumu and approximately 350km north-west of Alice Springs. Pauline has been painting since 2006 with Warlukurlangu Artists Aboriginal Corporation, an Aboriginal owned and governed art centre located in Yuendumu, a remote Aboriginal community 290 km north-west of Alice Springs in NT of Australia. She paints her father’s stories – Pikilyi Jukurrpa (Pikilyi Dreaming) and Mina Mina Jukurrpa (Mina Mina Dreaming), Dreamings that relate to her land, its features and animals. They have been passed down to her by her parents and their parents before them for millennia. She continues to paint through this art centre when she visits Yuendumu or when canvas, paint and brushes are dropped off in Nyirripi for artist by Warlukurlangu, as they have done since 2005. Pauline loves colour and uses an unrestricted palette to develop a modern interpretation of her traditional Aboriginal culture.

Collections

Museum of South Australia

Group Exhibitions

2011     From Salt Water to Salt Contemporary: an exploration of the theme of water in Indigenous art, McCulloch’s Indigenous Art@ Salt Contemporary, Queenscliff, Vic

2010    McCulloch & McCulloch/Jive Art, Noosa, QLD

2010    Exposition d’art aborigène d’Australie, IDAIA and Galerie Princesse de Kiev, France

2010    Contemporary Traditions,  Amelia Johnson Gallery, Hong Kong

2010    Walukurlangu Artists Tour – ARTKELCH, Stuttgart, Hamburg, Leipzig, Frieburg, GERMANY

2010    Circles in the Sand, Kluge-Ruhe Collection, Virginia USA

2010    Jukurrpa – Our Story. National Aboriginal Cultural Institute, Tandanya, Adelaide, SA

2010    Star Dreaming, Japingka Gallery, Fremantle, WA

2009    Nyirripi Artists, Birrung Gallery, Sydney NSW

2009    Warlukurlangu Survey Show, ReDot Gallery, Singapore

2009    Nyirripi & Yuendumu Artists, Japingka Gallery, Fremantle, WA

2009    All About Country, ArtKelch, Freiburg, Germany

2008    New Directions, Gecko Gallery, Broome, WA

2008    Artists of Nyirripi & Yuendumu, Japingka Gallery, Fremantle, WA

2007    Stocking, Artereal, Sydney, NSW

2007    Bush Tucker, Artereal, Sydney, NSW

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.