Maku inmaku pakani, 2012, Ngupulya Pumani
Synthetic polymer paint on belgian linen, 170cm x 300cm
Provenance: Gabrielle Pizzi Gallery, Melbourne.
Exhibited: Flinders University City Gallery & South Australian Museum, Adelaide 2013.
Ngupulya Pumani was born in Mimili, SA and is a Pitjantjatjara artist from a noted family of painters. As senior member of her community, Pumani has responsibility for sharing traditional law, culture and customs. Her paintings depict scenes and concepts from her family’s Dreaming. Many of Pumani’s techniques have been passed down from her mother, and she has added her own refinements to these. The desert landscape of her country is depicted in her pale, earthy background, with patterns of bright dots and lines representing symbols, figures and pathways.
In Maku inmaku pakani, Ngupulya Pumani offers an depiction of the Maku tjukurpa (witchetty grub) at Antara. This place is significant because of the two rock holes which women care for and celebrate in song and dance when they are full of rainwater. Also found at the site are the abundant witchetty grubs, which are dug up and roasted on coals. The red granite boulders that distinguish this landscape are prominent in the work and surround the waterholes (1).