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Kungkarrangkalpa (Seven Sisters)

‘Kungkarrangkalpa’ (The Seven Sisters or Pleaides) is significant Tjukurrpa (dreamtime). Its origins you may be familiar with in astronomy and its connection to ‘Wati Nyiru’ (Magic Man or Orion).  The roots of this dreaming stems across indigenous groups around the world. The Australian Aboriginal songline is one part to the whole dreaming which can be traced all around the world. The ladies of the Ngaanyatjarra Lands depict their significant chapter and understanding of the journey of the sisters. The different versions of this story depend on where you live and the significance’s of local Tjukurrpa places.

Nyiru fell in love with the sisters but he was of the wrong skin group to marry, but he still pursued them on their journey. The sisters travel across the land to escape Nyiru’s unwanted attentions, but he is persistent and always finds them. There are significant land forms which can be sited today that evidence this dreaming. As Nyiru is chasing the sisters he tries to catch them by using magic to turn into the most tempting kampurarrpa (bush tomato) and the most beautiful Yirli (wild fig tree), for them to eat and camp under. However, the sisters are knowledgeable of his magic and too clever for Nyiru who they outwit again and again. They go hungry and run through the night rather than be caught by him. As the journey continues, Nyiru gets so frustrated at the wit of the sisters that he uses his magic to make the oldest sister sick to try and get closer to her. The other sisters rescue the big sister and nurse her back to health. It is said he also captures the youngest sister, but with the help of the oldest sister, she escapes back to her sisters who are waiting for her. Eventually, the sisters fly into the sky to escape Nyiru, forming the constellation. Nyiru felt lonely, longing for the sisters who were so far away. Nyiru used his magic to go to the sky, forever in pursuit.

Categories: Papulankutja Artists

Name: Paula Sarkaway Lyons

Language: Ngaanyatjarra

Community: Blackstone

Biography:

Paula was one of seven siblings. Her parents were both Ngaanyatjarra with her mother born in Wannarn and her father in Yanka, north of Blackstone. Paula and her sisters paint together at Papulankutja showing to be talented artists of their generation.

Paula and her siblings were either born in Kalgoorlie, Wingellina (Irrunytju) or Warburton. They travelled on foot ‘up and down this country’, sourcing their food from the bush along the way. They lived for periods of time in different remote communities including Warburton and Blackstone.

During her childhood her family travelled throughout the Ngaanyatjara and Anangu Pitjantjatjarra, Yankunytjatjara (APY) Lands visiting relatives and maintaining cultural obligations. Her mother, Edith Lyons, (a highly regarded painter) taught Paula Ngaanyatjarra heritage, law and culture. She attended primary and secondary school in Papulankutja (Blackstone) where she learnt to speak English. After completing school she worked at the school as a Teacher's Aid.

Paula is Auntie to more than 12 children and raised two girls at different times belonging to extended family members.

Paula was involved with the Papulankutja Women’s Centre since its early days, before it became an art centre, and travelled around the various communities with the Coordinator as well as attending events in Alice Springs and beyond. She learned soap making and enjoys painting. She has worked at the local School as a Teacher’s Assistant.

She has also been an active member of Tjanpi Desert Weavers (TDW) making sculptural objects such as baskets and animal figures out of natural fibre, local grasses, raffia and wool.

Major Works: Paula was one of 18 Papulankutja women who created the grass Toyota which won first prize in the 2005 National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art (NATSIA) Awards and was acquired by the Museum and Art Gallery NT. This was the first time a contemporary fibre art piece took the major prize in the history of this prestigious award. Paula travelled to Darwin for the Awards Ceremony with five other ladies.

More recently she created a female sculptural figure – one of the Seven Sisters of the Tjukurrpa (ancestral creation stories) - for the extraordinary multi-faceted National Museum of Australia (NMA) Songlines exhibition that was on display at the NMA in Canberra from September 2017 to February 2018.

Paula is a featured emerging artists for Revealed exhibition 2022 and will later this year feature in the Desert Mob exhibition in Alice Springs.

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