Wayiyul

$1,520.00

This is an important and true story from the Tjukurpa. I was a little baby at Wayiyul with my mother.

Ngalpingka Simms has painted Wayiyul country associated with the Minyma Tjuta (Seven Sisters) Tjukurpa. This country is close to Karilywara (Patjarr) in the Ngaanyatjarra Lands of Western Australia. It is where Ngalpingka was born and grew up living a traditional nomadic life with her family. Her knowledge of the country extends to the ancestral beings that created this landscape. Wayiyul is a Kungkarangkalpa (Seven Sisters) area which is a powerful and sacred Western Desert story pertaining to many woman’s groups. The sisters camped at Wayiyul – as can be seen by the semicircular motifs in the painting – and were being followed by Nyiiru the lustful old man who was trying to take the elder sister to be his wife. He has been stalking them, camping some distance from where they stop and hiding behind his windbreak, poking his head over to take a look. The women are disturbed by his constant pursuing of them and quickly take off to camp away from him. The roundels depicted are the sites they travel to; Karilywara, Miputjara, Tikatika, Wanarn, Yalarra and Papulankutja (Blackstone) – yapu pulka – where they sit down and rest. They travel all the way to Kaltukatjara (Docker River) and beyond.

Ngalpingka Simms was born at Wayiyul. Wayiyul is a Seven Sisters site, situated to the north of Warburton Community, and is a sacred site. Ngalpingka spent her early days living a traditional lifestyle with her small family group and later moved into Warburton Mission where many Ngaanyatjarra people settled. She spent many years at Warburton living a semi nomadic life and participating in traditional ceremony. Now living at Tjuntjuntjara and married to Spinifex elder Lennard Walker, Ngalpingka paints with the Spinifex Arts Project. She has worked with the Spinifex Artists since 1998 and paints her homeland area associated with the Minyma Tjuta (Seven Sisters) as well as collaborative paintings.