Ngayuku Ngura 1 (Ngayuku ngura inunytjitjara - new growth on my country)

This is ngayuku ngura, which means my country, inspired by my childhood walking with my family, and with camels, donkeys and horses, from station to station in the southern Northern Territory, to find station work and to meet up with family. There are mountain ranges and rocky hills all through Yankunytjatjara country, some with sand hills running up the sides. After rain the plants and trees become bright green. This is called inunytji, bright green new growth, new shoots and blossoms on trees, after the rain time. This painting has lots of grey and ochre colours in it which would suit modern decor, with a really big red range for drama. I remember seeing ranges like this in the Henbury region of the Northern Territory, and we kids would play on the sand hills. I painted this on a pre-stretched wood framed canvas (or linen) which is solid and quite heavy. The darker side to this painting is that we were often hiding like fugitives in this same landscape, from the police and the welfare, who were hunting us down to capture we children because of the colour of our skin.

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I am a Yankunytjatjara woman, born and raised on stations in Central Australia. My first language is Yankunytjatjara. I am an interpreter and translator, working with Western Desert languages and English. I am currently the Chairwoman of the Ngaanyatjarra Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara Women's Council. I used to paint dot paintings at Imanpa and sell at the Imanpa Art Gallery inside the old Ebenezer Roadhouse. I painted the Seven Sisters because they came through the Imanpa and Mt Conner area where I live. I have recently picked up painting again in Alice Springs. However, I've been drawing and designing for many years. Some of my line drawings are in the book 'Uti Kulintjaku, colouring towards clear thinking'. I am a Tjanpi Desert Weaver, specialising in baskets and animal sculptures, as well as lamp shades. Some of my Tjanpi sculptures have appeared in an exhibition in Araluen Arts Centre in Alice Springs. I have returned to acrylic painting on canvas but this time I am depicting landscapes and mountain ranges, inspired by ngayuku ngura (my own country), which I have walked extensively with my family and our camels, horses and donkeys. We would see landscapes that most people driving up and down the Stuart Highway don't see. Unusual shaped mountains, rocky ranges and big flat open plains dotted with shrubs. Sometimes we'd come to soft sand dunes that go right up the rocky faces of the ranges, and we'd have fun playing on them. Then we'd run and catch up with the adults walking along below. This is the country and the memories that are inspiring this new series of paintings I am working on. Sometimes it is not easy because I am blind in one eye, but my visual memories are so strong and my imagination is so great that I can still depict Yankunytjatjara peoples' country with lots of colours and good design.