Cotton Tea Towel - Digital Print - 62.5cm x 42.5cm-MNM619

Two dog ancestors, a Jampijinpa and a Napangardi, travelled from the west to the east. They dug holes in the ground and created warnirri (rockholes) and ngapa (waterholes) as they went. The two dogs separated. Eventually Jampijinpa became lonely and howled for Napangardi in the south. She came running to him, and they married each other at Ngarnka.

In the remote Tiwi Islands, a 20-strong group of female Elders have been meeting to sing for decades.

Their mission: to compose and perform songs that hold cultural, genealogical, geographical and spiritual knowledge that has been passed down through thousands of years of Tiwi storytelling, ceremony and in the songlines that circle the islands. 

Their goal: to preserve and pass these song stories to their children, grandchildren and future generations. 

The Ngarukuruwala Women’s Group from the Tiwi Islands have been sisters and friends all their lives. As young women they composed songs and as Elders and mentors in their Community, they draw on the old ways of Tiwi song traditions to help young Tiwi people connect with their language and cultural identity, also creating new songs. 

Murli La is a joint project between the ILF and Hardie Grant and the book is written by the Ngarukuruwala Women’s Group in partnership with Dr Genevieve Campbell. The ILF is extremely grateful for Dr Campbell’s knowledge and assistance in producing the book. 

• Artist: Jacinta Numina
  
• Title: My Country Atnangkerre
  
• Size: 38cm x 53cm
  
• Medium: Acrylics on Canvas 
  
• Region: Utopia, Central Desert
  
• Outstation: Atnangkere
  
• Language Block: Arandic
  
• Language: Anmatyerre, Kayte, Alyawarra, English
  
• #249
  

Three stories, three songlines and one country Atnangkerre. 

Bush Medicine Leaves, Body Painting and Bush Yam Seeding. 

Jacinta Numina was born at Sterling Station, Central Australia, in 1965 and is niece to the world acclaimed Petyarre sisters from Utopia. In the early eighties she started painting with a group of lady elders from the Utopia region. The central theme of her artwork relates to her knowledge of the Anmatyerre (women’s) Law and her country.

In 1966, Jacinta moved to Darwin to formally study at Charles Darwin University and completed her Associate Degree in Art and Design in 2003. The next year saw Jacinta complete her traineeships in printmaking and was then appointed as a fulltime printmaker at Northern Editions, she completed works with the NT Government. Jacinta mainly paints on canvas, but she has also painted artifacts such as shields, coolamons and didgeridoos.