Pauline Napangardi Gallagher

Aboriginal Warlpiri woman

Pauline Napangardi Gallagher (deceased, 2023) was born in 1952 in Yuendumu. Her country is Pikilyi (Vaughan Springs), a sacred water hole and located near Mount Doreen Station west of Yuendumu and approximately 350 km north-west of Alice Springs. Since 2006 she painted with Warlukurlangu Artists Aboriginal Corporation, an Aboriginal owned and governed art centre located in Yuendumu, a remote Aboriginal community 290 km north-west of Alice Springs in NT of Australia. 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 have been passed down to her by her parents and their parents before them for millennia. She loved colour and used an unrestricted palette to develop a modern interpretation of her traditional Aboriginal culture.

@warlu_art

Artworks

Mina Jukurrpa

This painting shows Mina Mina Jukurrpa, a Dreamtime story. The story contains important information about the different roles that men and women play in Warlpiri culture, particularly in the context of ritual performances. It alludes to an earlier time in which their ritual and social roles were reserved. Women were the ones that controlled sacred objects and weapons which are now exclusively owned by men. The sinuous lines represent snakevine, the circles are desert truffle and the wavy lines are similar to the shapes of the hairstring skirts that the women would wear.

Mina Mina

Mina Mina is an extremely important ceremonial site for Napangardi and Napanangka women, located just east of Lake Mackay on the WA border. There are a number of ‘Mulju’ (water soakages) and ‘Maluri’ (clay pans) at Mina Mina.

Ngalyipi

This painting portrays a specific part of Mina Mina Dreaming, a story about a group of powerful ancestral women. 'Ngalyipi' is a rope-like creeper that climbs up the trunks and limbs of trees. The women during their travels collected this vine. It is used as a ceremonial wrap and a strap to carry coolamons and water carriers. Ngalyipi is also used to tie around the forehead to cure headaches and bind cuts.

Ngalyipi Vine

This painting features 'Ngalypi,' a vine that is sacred to Napandardi and Napangka women. It has many uses, such as a ceremonial wrap, a strap to carry 'parrajas' (wooden bowls) that are laden with bush tucker, and can be used as a tourniquet for headaches.

Fringe-rush

This Dreaming is associated with a place called Jaralypari, north of Yuendumu. Lukarrara (desert fringe-rush) is a grass with an edible seed. This seed is traditionally ground with a large stone to make flour which is then used to make damper cakes. In traditional Warlpiri paintings iconography is used to represent the Jukurrpa. In this painting the straight lines are frequently used to portray seeds that fall down to the ground and are also used to represent the womens 'parrajas' (wooden food carriers).