CONTEMPORARY ART STOCKROOM Pauline Napangardi Gallagher

Pauline Napangardi Gallagher (1952 - 2023) Pauline went to the local school in Yuendumu and soon after married her promised husband who is now deceased. Pauline moved to Nyirripi in 1983. She had five children, three sons and two daughters, and fifteen grandchildren. Some of her family live in Nyirripi and the rest of her family live in Yuendumu, Kintore and Papunya: Aboriginal communities in the NT of Australia.

Pauline’s country is Pikilyi (Vaughan Springs), a sacred water hole and located near Mount Doreen Station west of Yuendumu and approximately 350km north-west of Alice Springs. Pauline painted from 2006 with Warlukurlangu Artists. She painted her father’s stories – Pikilyi Jukurrpa (Pikilyi Dreaming) and Mina Mina Jukurrpa (Mina Mina Dreaming) -Dreamings that relate to her land, its features and animals. They were passed down to her by her parents and their parents before them for millennia.

Pauline loved colour and used an unrestricted palette to develop a modern interpretation of her traditional Aboriginal culture.

The country associated with Pauline’s dreamtime is Mina Mina, a place far to the west of Yuendumu, which is significant to Napangardi and Napanangka women and Japangardi and Japanangka men. They are all custodians of the dreaming that created the area. The Jukurrpa story tells the journey of a group of women of all ages who travelled to the east gathering food, collecting ‘ngalyipi’ (snake vine) and performing ceremonies as they travelled. The women began their journey at Mina Mina where digging sticks emerged from the ground. Taking these implements the women travelled east creating Janyinki and other sites. Their journey took them far to the east beyond the boundaries of Warlpiri country. The Ngalyipi vine grows up the trunks and limbs of the desert oak trees. Ngalyipi is a sacred vine to Napangadri and Napanangka women that has many uses. It can be used as a ceremonial wrap, as a strap to carry wooden bowls that are laden with bush tucker and as a tourniquet for headaches.

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