Untitled (Marrapinti)

$8,500.00

“The lines in this painting represent the sandhills at the site of Marrapinti, west of the Pollock Hills in Western Australia. A large group of ancestral women camped at this rock hole before continuing their travels further east, passing through Wala Wala, Kiwirrkura and Ngaminya. While at the site the women made the nose bones, also known as marrapinti, which are worn through a hole made in the nose web. These nose bones were originally used by both men and women but are now only inserted by the older generation on ceremonial occasions. As the women continued their travels towards the east they gathered the edible berries known as kampurarrpa or desert raisin from the small shrub Solanum centrale. These berries can be eaten directly from the plant but are sometimes ground into a paste and cooked on the coals as a type of damper.”