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Biography:
Nancy Ross Nungurrayi was born around 1935.
Birthsite:
“Karrku”, a large hill south of Kiwirrkura approximately 800km West of Alice
Springs.
Language/Tribal Group:
Ngaatjatjarra and Pintupi/Luritja.
Historical:
Nancy and her family walked into Papunya from Wala Wala in the Gibson
Desert, prior to the last group of traditional people being brought in
by Native Welfare patrols under Jeremy Long. Nancy came in with her late
Tjampitjinpa husband and two other co-wives. She is the sister of Naata
Nungurrayi
and George Tjungarrayi and now she lives at Kintore with her
family.
Painting:
Nancy Ross
Nungurrayi paints
a complex series of designs that depict the dreaming sites or
“Tjukurrpa” that relate to Nancy’ traditional homelands. The concentric
circles refer to the locations used for ceremony. The parallel lines
that connect each of these sites are song lines established during
ancestral activity. These are used during the movement from one site to
the next and provide evidence of the presence of ancestral beings. The
main site is known as “Marrapinti” and it is here the women gathered for
ceremony during the time of creation. They gathered “kumparapara” native
tomato. The dried fruit was ground to paste and baked in hot coals. The
women can be seen depicted as “U” shapes and the background colours and
designs represent various aspects of the landscape such as sand dunes
and rock escarpments known as “tali” and “puli” respectively.
Nancy paints her “Karrku” story. The word karrku refers to red
ochre. Many of Nancy’s paintings depict women grinding wangunu, a
grass seed used to make traditional damper. Apart from the symbols used
to represent the women and their activities, Nancy depicts sand hills, (tali)
and the rocky hills (puli) as a series of curved linear patterns. Nancy
was included in the Kiwirrkura Women’s project the result of which was a
large painting auctioned to raise funds for the Kintore renal unit. This
painting is published in the “Papunya Tula". Nancy’s stories include; “Mantarrkurra”,
“Tunitjarra”- kunkga tjuta or “many women”, “Marrapinti” –
women’s business. “Mamuttjulku” – Nancy’s (Tjapaltjarri) father’s site.
Also she paints “Mantjintjalkara” area located in the Karrku area and
“Wirunya” story about a ceremonial skirt worn by women.
Represented:
Flinders Art Museum, Flinders University, Adelaide; University of the
Sunshine Coast, Queensland.
COLLECTIONS:
Nancy Ross Nungurrayi
work is
represented by
corporate
and private collectors
in
Australia and throughout the world. |
