Mina Mina Jukurrpa (Mina Mina Dreaming)

Mina Mina is an extremely important ceremonial site for Napangardi and Napanangka women that is located approximately 600kms west of Yuendumu, just east of Lake Mackay and the WA border. The area has a marluri (salt lake or claypan) that is usually dry, without water. There are also a number of mulju (soakages), sandhills, and a large stand of kurrkara (desert oaks [Allocasuarina decaisneana]). The Mina Mina Jukurrpa is an important source of Warlpiri ritual knowledge and social organisation, particularly relating to the different roles performed by men and women. The kirda (owners) of this country are Napangardi/Napanangka women and Japangardi/Japanangka men, who can depict portions of the Mina Mina Jukurrpa in their paintings. The Mina Mina Jukurrpa tells the story of a group of ancestral karnta (women) who travelled from west to east.

 

Saraeva Napaljarri Marshall is the daughter of award-winning artist Julie Nangala Robertson and Nigel Japanangka Marshall. She is the granddaughter of the well-known artist, Dorothy Napangardi.  Saraeva has spent her whole life in Yuendumu and began painting with Warlukurlangu Artists in 2013. She paints her Grandmother’s Mina Mina Jukurrpa. Her grandmother would paint and tell her about the important women’s dreaming site, about the ancestral women travelling and dancing and performing ceremonies and creating the country as they travelled.