Deutscher and Hackett

Papunya Tula Artists, Alice Springs
Elizabeth Jones collection, Melbourne
Mossgreen, Melbourne, 14 August 2007, lot 43
Private collection, Adelaide

This work is accompanied by a certificate of authenticity from Papunya Tula Artists which states in part: 'This painting depicts designs associated with the rockhole site of Marrapinti, west of the Pollock Hills in Western Australia. The lines in the painting depict the creek at the site and the sandhills which surround it. In Mythological times a group of women of the Nangala and Napangati kinship subsection camped at this site during their travels towards the east.

While at the site the women made nose bones, also known as Marrapinti, which are worn through a hole made in the nose web. During ceremonies relating to Marrapinti the older women pierced the nasal septums of the younger women who were participating in the ceremony. Nose bones were originally used by both men and women but are now only inserted by the older generation ceremonial occasions.

Upon completion of the ceremonies at Marrapinti the women continued their travels east passing through Wala Wala, Ngaminya and Wirrulnga, before heading north east to Wilkinkarra (Lake Mackay).