Tjukurpa palatja panya ngayulu palyantja palunya, draw-amilaṉu. That’s all the ladies been going out and that’s the history tjukurpa palunya, nyinanytja, wira country-ngka, puṉu tjuṯangka.
Paluru tjana nyinapai punu tjutangka. Wirangka katipai kuḻunypa and all. Mai kulukulu minyma tjutangku. That’s why pattern palatja ngayulu nyaanu. Tjukurpatu palatja, spinifex. You know, they carry little kids around, get some wild tuckers, put ’em on there. So that’s the ladies’ story, the pattern there, tjana nyinanyi. I been draw ’em.
Ngayulu nyakupai like old people do that ka palumpa tjanampa arangka palyalpai. My nana been do that, paluru show-amilanulta, iriti. That’s why I been do that thing there. Punu palunya pick-amilanu ngayulu munu katantara and bring it back so I can do it in my old house, outside wire-angka pauni.
That’s the story I have drawn. That’s all the ladies going out, a history story of how they lived, with their carved wooden bowls, out in the bush. They lived in the bush, the women using these bowls to carry all sorts of food and even small children.
It’s Tjukurpa. That’s why I made this pattern, to tell this story of the spinifex. How they carried the little kids, collected the wild bush tucker. That pattern is the ladies’ story of how they lived. That’s what I’ve drawn.
I would watch the old people carving. Now I do it in their place. My nana used to do it and showed me how a long time ago. That’s why I do it. Picking the wood, cutting it and taking it back home so I can work on it at my old house [in Tjuntjuntjara]. Sitting outside, burning with the wire.
Madeline Grant, Oak Valley May, 2024
Madeline Grant is minyma Anangu, a senior Aboriginal woman based in Oak Valley, a small community in the Great Victorian Desert, north-west of Ceduna. She sold her first carvings with Maruku in April 2023 when visiting her uncles Ned and Fred Grant in Tjuntjuntjara. Madeline is an active community member and spokesperson for her community. She has been chairperson on the Governing Council of Oak Valley Aboriginal School, and a director with the Oak Valley (Maralinga) Aboriginal Corporation as well as working with the Oak Valley Health Service.
Madeline says her paintings and designs and walka relate to women’s meetings and women on country: ”Ngayulu nyakupai like old people do that ka palumpa tjanampa arangka palyalpai. My nana been do that, paluru show-amilanulta, iriti. I would watch the old people carving. Now I do it in their place. My nana used to do it and showed me how a long time ago.” Madeline Grant, 2024
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