Mina Mina Jukurrpa (Mina Mina Dreaming) 7344/23 (A)

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 [Allocasuarina decaisneana]). The Mina Mina Jukurrpa is an important source of Warlpiri ritual knowledge and social organisation,
particularly relating to the different roles performed by men and women.

The Mina Mina Jukurrpa tells the story of a group of ancestral ‘karnta’ (women) who traveled 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 [Erythrina vespertilio]) 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 [Eurostopodus argus]) from the Jakamarra subsection. The bird would call out and then hide in the
bushes behind them as they travelled.

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Saraeva Napaljarri Marshall was born on the 24 December, 1996 to Julie Nangala Robertson (a Warlukurlangu Artist) and Nigel Japanangka Marshall. She is the grand-daughter of the well-known Telstra Award winning artist, Dorothy Napangardi (Dec 2013). Although born in Adelaide Hospital, Saraeva has spent her whole life in Yuendumu, a remote Aboriginal community 290 kms north-west of Alice Springs, in the Northern Territory of Australia. Saraeva attends the local school and hopes to complete her secondary school studies in 2014. Once completed she would like to continue her studies in the visual arts and become a well known artist like her Mother and Grandmother. Although Saraeva has been painting from an early age with her mother and grandmother, she has been painting with Warlukurlangu Artists Aboriginal Corporation, an Aboriginal owned and governed art centre located in Yuendumu, since 2013. She paints her Grandmother’s Mina Mina Jukurrpa (Mina Mina Dreaming). Her grandmother would paint and tell her about the important women’s dreaming site, about the ancestral women travelling and dancing and performing ceremonies and creating the country as they travelled. These stories have been passed down through the generations for millennia. To depict her traditional Jukurrpa, Saraeva uses a wide range of colours and traditional iconography while developing a contemporary style. When Saraeva is not studying or painting she likes to go hunting with her family for goanna and bush tucker.