NGUPULYA PUMANI (b. 1948)

Ngupulya was born in 1948 in Mimili Maku in South Australia. Her mother is the matriarch of the Mimili community and is a senior painter within it. Ngupulya is herself a Pitjantjatjara senior woman, committed to fostering traditional law and culture. She began painting recently, in 2009

 

Ngupulya paintings depict Maku Tjukurpa, a song line from the Mimili area, and she translates this story by using over-dotting - creating a pulsating rhythm, which floats above a landscape of flowing lines and layering. She uses a soft palette restricted in colours, and creates a canvas over which the eye constantly moves, unable to focus on a single brush or gesture.

 

The Witchetty grub songline is a  significant song line from the Mimili, in which the women go to the water hole on top of the rocks at Antara, clean out the rock hole and wait for the rain to come. When the waterhole was full of water they would tap on the waters surface with a stick, then sing and dance. They would then dig under the Maku (witchetty bush) and would find Maku tjuta, meaning enough  Maku (food) for everyone.

 

 Ngupulya is a Mimili Maku artist.