Pauline Napangardi Gallagher / Ngalyipi Jukurrpa (Snakevine Dreaming) – Mina Mina (1478-21ny)

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

1952 – 2023

Pauline Napangardi Gallagher was born in 1952 in Yuendumu. She went to the local school in Yuendumu and soon after married her promised husband. In 1983 they moved to Nyirripi.

Pauline had five children, three sons and two daughters, and 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 painted from 2006 with Warlukurlangu Artists. She painted 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 were passed down to her by her parents and their parents before them for millennia.

Pauline loved colour and used an unrestricted palette to develop a modern interpretation of her traditional Aboriginal culture.

Selected Exhibitions

• 2023 Tali Desert Sand Dunes, Japingka Gallery, Fremantle
• 2023 Warlpiri Artists from Yuendumu, Japingka Gallery, Fremantle
• 2023 New works from WARLUKURLANGU, Flinders Lane Gallery, Melbourne
• 2022 Out Bush: Warlu 2022, Flinders Lane Gallery, Melbourne
• 2022 Synergy 2022, First Nations Artists from around Australia, Everywhen Art, Shoreham VIC
• 2020 Murdie Leads the Pack, Art Mob, Hobart
• 2020 Warlukurlangu Artists: New Works from Community, Flinders Lane Gallery, Melbourne
• 2019 defining tradition | black + white, Kate Owen Gallery, Sydney
• 2019 Fire Country – Warlukurlangu Artists, Japingka Gallery, Fremantle, WA
• 2019 The Children of the Warlpiri, Art Mob, Hobart, TAS
• 2018 Land and Sky – Warlpiri Artists, Japingka Gallery, Fremantle, WA
• 2011 From Salt Water to Salt Contemporary:, 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, 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

This ‘ngalyipi Jukurrpa’ (snakevine Dreaming) comes from Mina Mina. Mina Mina is an extremely important ceremonial site for Napangardi and Napanangka women that is located approximately 600kms west of Yuendumu, just east of Lake Mackay and the WA border. The area has a ‘marluri’ (salt lake or claypan) that is usually dry, without water. There are also a number of ‘mulju’ (soakages), sandhills, and a large stand of ‘kurrkara’ (desert oaks). The Mina Mina Jukurrpa is an important source of Warlpiri ritual knowledge and social organization, particularly relating to the different roles performed by men and women.

The ‘kirda’ (owners) of this Jukurrpa are Napangardi/Napanangka women and Japangardi/Japanangka men. There are a number of different Jukurrpa associated with Mina Mina; artists usually choose to depict one particular Jukurrpa in their paintings. In addition to ‘ngalyipi’ (snakevine), these can include ‘karnta’ (women), ‘karlangu’ (digging sticks), ‘majardi’ (hairstring skirts/tassels), ‘kurrkara’ (desert oak) and ‘jintiparnta’ (desert truffle).

The Mina Mina Jukurrpa tells the story of a group of ancestral ‘karnta’ (women) who travelled from west to east. In the Dreamtime, these ancestral women danced at Mina Mina and ‘karlangu’ (digging sticks) rose up out of the ground. They collected these digging sticks and started travelling to the east. They carried their digging sticks over their shoulders and they were adorned with ‘majardi’ (hairstring belts), white feathers, and necklaces made from ‘yinirnti’ (bean tree) seeds. They continuously anointed themselves with ‘minyira’ (shiny fat) to increase their ritual powers as they went along. As the women travelled, they were followed by a ‘yinkardakurdaku’ (spotted nightjar) from the Jakamarra subsection. The bird would call out and then hide in the bushes behind them as they travelled.

When the women danced at Mina Mina, they created a large dust cloud that swept up the ‘walyankarna’ (snake ancestors). The ‘walyankarna’ had previously transformed themselves from witchetty grubs into snakes at Kunajarrayi (Mount Nicker, 200km southwest of Yuendumu), and they had stopped at Mina Mina to watch the women dance. This dust cloud blew the ‘walyankarna’ further north to Yaturluyaturlu (near the Granites gold mine). In this way, the ‘karnta Jukurrpa’ (women’s Dreaming) and ‘ngarlkirdi Jukurrpa’ (witchetty grub Dreaming) intersect. This allowed the ancestral women to observe the witchetty grubs and learn how to best locate and cook them, which are skills that Warlpiri women still use today.

The women went east from Mina Mina, dancing, digging for bush tucker, collecting ‘ngalyipi’ (snakevine), and creating many places as they went. ‘Ngalyipi’ is a ropelike creeper that grows up the trunks and limbs of trees, including ‘kurrkara’ (desert oak). It is used as a ceremonial wrap and as a strap to carry ‘parraja’ (coolamons) and ‘ngami’ (water carriers). ‘Ngalyipi’ stems can be pounded between stones and tied around the forehead to cure headaches, and Warlpiri sometimes also chew the leaves to treat severe colds.

As the women went east, they passed through Kimayi (a stand of ‘kurrkara’ (desert oak)). They passed through sandhill country where the ‘yarla’ (bush potato or ‘big yam’) ancestors from Yumurrpa and the ‘ngarlajiyi’ (pencil yam or ‘small yam’) ancestors from Yumurrpa were engaged in a huge battle over women. This battle is also a very important Warlpiri Jukurrpa narrative. The women went on to Janyinki and stopped at Wakakurrku (Mala Bore), where they stuck their digging sticks in the ground. These digging sticks turned into mulga trees, which still grow at Wakakurrku today. The women then went on to Lungkardajarra (Rich Bore), where they looked back towards their country in the west and started to feel homesick for what they’d left behind.

The women split up at Lungkardajarra. Some of them travelled eastwards to Yarungkanyi (Mount Doreen) and kept going east. They passed through Coniston in Anmatyerre country, and then went on to Alcoota and Aileron and beyond.