Tanya Nungurrayi Collins / Seed Dreaming (1131-25)

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

Tanya Nungarrayi Collins was born on 11 November 1975 in Yuendumu, a remote Aboriginal community 290km northwest of Alice Springs in the NT. She has one sister, Nancy, and one brother, Alan. Her grandparents lived in Mount Doreen, but moved to the Yuendumu community where her parents grew up. She is married to Steven Marshall, and has one son, Winston Japangardi.

Tanya attended Yirara College in Alice Springs, NT. She enjoyed doing reading and maths in college. After school, she worked for a number of different organisations in Yuendumu. These included the child care centre, the Yuendumu school kitchen, and as a School Attendance Officer (”yellow shirt”). When she is not painting, Tanya likes to hunt for kangaroo, perentie, witchetty grubs, and honey ants.

This painting tells the story of a Jangala ‘watiya-warnu’ ancestor who travelled south from a small hill called Ngurlupurranyangu to Yamunturrngu (Mount Liebig). As he travelled he picked the ‘watiya-warnu’ seeds and placed them in ‘parrajas’ (food carriers), one of which he carried on his head. Watiya-warnu is a seed bearing tree that grows in open spinifex or mulga country.

When people returned to their camp after collecting the seeds they would make large windbreaks for shelter and winnow the seed in the late afternoon. Immature ‘watiya-warnu’ seed is ground into a paste and can be used to treat upset stomachs. The associated ‘watiya-warnu’ ceremony involves the preparation of a large ground painting.