Dorothy Napangardi Robinson (c.1950 - 2013)

Salt on Mina Mina, 2002

synthetic polymer paint on linen

122.0 x 91.0 cm

signed verso: Dorothy
bears inscription verso: artist’s name, size and Gallery Gondwana cat. 7211DN

Gallery Gondwana, Alice Springs, Northern Territory (stamped verso)
Private collection, Queensland, acquired from the above in 2002

This work is accompanied by a certificate of authenticity from Gallery Gondwana, which states:

'This painting depicts a major women's ceremonial site known as Mina Mina, the artist's custodial country located near Lake Mackay in the Tanami Desert, north of Yuendumu in the Northern Territory. During the Jukurrpa Ancestral women of the Napangardi and Napanangka sub-section groups (aunt/niece relationship, in which knowledge is passed from one to the other) gathered to collect ceremonial digging sticks (Karlangu) that had emerged from the ground. They then proceeded east, performing rituals of song and dance, to the place known as Jankinyi. A large belt of trees (Casuarina Decaisneana) now stand where these digging sticks once were.

Topographically, the sacred site of Mina Mina is made up of two enormous soakage areas that, rarely filled with water, exist as clay-pans. As water soaks into the ground small areas of earth dry out and lift at the edges, becoming delineated by salt. In this striking design of white dotting Dorothy depicts the crustations of salt stretching infinitely onward, etched with the tracks of the women as their paths stretch on, crossing and merging, telling their stories.'