
Nancy Ross Nungurrayi Australian Indigenous (Pintupi), 1935-2010
35.8 x 24 inch
Nancy paints her ‘Karrku’ story. The word karrku refers to a large hill about 800 kilometers west of Alice Springs and to red ochre. Many of Nancy’s paintings depict women grinding wangunu, a grass seed used to make traditional damper. Apart from the symbols used to represent the women (U-shapes) and their activities (concentric circles), Nancy depicts sand hills, (tali) and the rocky hills (puli) as a series of curved linear patterns. Nancy was included in the Kiwirrkura Women’s project the result of which was a large painting auctioned to raise funds for the Kintore renal unit. This painting is published in the Papunya Tula’s ‘Genesis and Genius’ book published by the Art Gallery of New South Wales.
Nancy’s stories include: ‘Tunitjarra’ kunkga tjuta or ‘many women’, ‘Marrapinti’ - A site where women gathered for ceremony during the time of creation. They gathered ‘kumparapara’, a native tomato. The dried fruit was ground to paste and baked in hot coals. ‘Mamuttjulku’ - Nancy’s (Tjapaltjarri) father’s site, ‘Mantjintjalkara’ - located in the Karrku area, ‘Wirunya’ - ceremonial skirt worn by women.
Please note that all First Nations Art is created from a so called ‘Birds Eye’ view. This means that the paintings can be hung either horizontally as well as vertically.
Provenance
Painted for Yanda Aboriginal Art, Alice Springs, Australia
Private collection, The Netherlands
Exhibitions
Ladies from Papunya, SmithDavidson Gallery, Amsterdam, The Netherlands, 2024
ART & INTERIOR Modern Aboriginal Art, Marcel Wolterinck, Laren, The Netherlands, 2014/2015