Polly Anne Napangardi Dixon / Mina Mina Dreaming (1A)

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

Polly Anne Napangardi Dixon was born in 1980 in Darwin although her parents lived in Lajamanu, an Aboriginal community in semi-arid country on the edge of the Tanami Desert, halfway between Darwin and Alice Springs in the NT of Australia.

In the early 80s, when Polly Anne was a little girl, they moved to Yuendumu. She has two sisters and one brother. Her parents passed away several years ago and both her grandparents have passed away. Polly Anne went to Yuendumu Primary School then to Kormilda College, an Aboriginal boarding college in Darwin. When she finished her schooling she returned to Yuendumu where she worked as a receptionist for the Central Desert Shire (CDS), Centrelink/Council. When the office closed Polly Anne moved to Kalkaringi and from 2002 to 2005 worked on the Mount Theo Youth Program. Through her work she has traveled to Melbourne where she attended a workshop on youth funding for NT; and Canberra, Sydney, Adelaide and Ballarat. She also worked for PAW Media and Communications in camera and film editing, but now paints full time.

In 2006 she met and married Cedric King. Polly Anne has two daughters from a previous relationship and two sons with Cedric. Polly Anne has been painting with Warlukurlangu Artists since 2006. Both her parents painted. She finds painting exciting, “I love the colours, and on weekends, when my kids are asleep, I paint Mina Mina Jukurrpa, Dreaming relating to Janyinki, my father’s country. When I was little my father took me there.”

When Polly Anne is not painting she likes to go bushwalking with her friends and “I like to Google and see the outside – the other side of the world.”

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‟