Mantua Nangala
Untitled, 2013
Acrylic on canvas, 87cm x 28cm
Provenance: Paul Johnstone Gallery, Darwin.
Untitled, 2014
Acrylic on canvas, 87cm x 28cm
Provenance: Paul Johnstone Gallery, Darwin.
As a child, Mantua Nangala lived with her family including sister, well known artist Yinarupa Nangala in the traditional bush manner. Once connected with the greater world, she was involved in the relocation of the last family group to emerge from the desert in 1984, relations from her mother’s side. It was with her family, she began painting in the early 1980s capturing her Dreamings of the secret Tingari ceremonies at the site of Tjulna, located South-East of Kiwirrkura, and other sites (1).
From the authenticity certificate: The lines on this painting represent the sandhills at the site of Marrapinti, west of the Pollock Hills in WA. A large group of ancestral women camped at this rock hole before containing 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 whole 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.