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Elizabeth Ngwarraye Bonney – Flowers and Fairies
This painting is of my Mother’s Country, where the enookecha (kunga berry) trees grow.
After the rain the enookecha come out, the rain makes the flowers and seeds fall to the ground and then the fairies come.
They are sweet, good fairies that live in the enookecha trees and they come after the rain. When we go out we can feel them there.
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Warraburnburn
In Burarra and Gun-nartpa languages the figure represented in this artwork is generally known as a wangarra ‘ghost spirit’. For the Warrawarra clan ghost spirits have their own particular characteristics and their own name – Warraburnburn.
The Warraburnburn and the closely related Galabarrbarr spirit (owned by the Balkarranga clan) are also manikay song topics. The spirits are related to each other as maternal grandparent and grandchild, just as the people of Warrawarra and Balkarranga are. The dancing of the two ghost spirit figures forms the finale performance for funerals, and is the final goodbye to a deceased family member.
In many ways the Warraburnburn and Galabarrbarr ghost spirits are like people. They emerge from the patches of jungle on Warrawarra and Balkarranga country in the late afternoon and go hunting in family groups of men, women and children. They stay in contact with each other by calling out as the men hunt for fish and the women walk with their dillybags looking for vegetable food.
The ghost spirits are associated closely with white ochre and artists commonly paint the bodies of carved figures in white. Different types of ghost spirit wear different patterns. Warraburnburn is decorated with uniform white dots while others are painted white all over. Some ghost spirits are shown with a design painted on their chest infilled with rarrk ‘cross-hatching’, the same designs that are painted onto japi an-guyinda ‘male initiations’.
They also have supernatural characteristics including superhuman size (jarra anbaykarda ‘super tall’). They know the country intimately – some are malevolent towards humans and will lead people astray, taking them to unfamiliar and dangerous places. These malevolent spirits are likened to an-muburda ‘sorcerers’ and can conduct dangerous rituals that cause harm to people. Others are benign and will lead humans back to familiar paths and their own camps.
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Bush Tomato
Bush tomato is a small perennial shrub native to Central Australia, particularly arid regions of the Northern Territory, South Australia, and Western Australia. It typically grows 20–30 cm tall and produces small, round yellow fruits that dry naturally on the plant. The dried fruits have a strong, savoury, slightly caramel-like flavour and are widely used in Indigenous Australian cuisines. The plant thrives in sandy or rocky desert soils and responds well after fire or seasonal rains.
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Daisy Kemarre Moss – Atyenh Amey Amper (My Mother’s Country)
Daisy has painted her Mother’s country, Kngwarraye country. Kngwarraye is one of the four main skin names of Ampilatwatja.
Bush medicine, goanna and many other traditional bush foods are found here. This is where Daisy’s traditional laws lie.
Daisy paints her country to keep her country strong.
The artists of Ampilatwatja made a conscious decision not to paint altyerr (dreaming stories). The artists paint their country where those stories sit.
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Gunderson Kemarre Lewis – Atyenh Anyany Amper (Great Grandmothers Country)
I paint my Great Grandmothers country around Canteen Creek. Long time ago she hunted around this soakage in this country. When I paint, I paint that country, the soakage the bushflowers the sandhills and the distant mountains.
I hunt this country now.
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Positive Colour
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Kungkarrangkalpa (Seven Sisters) – Kuru Ala
Kuru Ala is a important women’s sites associated with the Kungkarrangkalpa (Seven Sisters) Tjukurrpa (Dreaming / story) across the Western and Central Deserts. Located south, west of Papulankutja (Blackstone), the site holds deep cultural, spiritual, and ceremonial significance for women in the Ngaanyatjarra Lands.
In the sky, Wati Nyiru is associated with Orion’s Belt, while the sisters become the star cluster known widely as the Pleiades. Many desert families still track these stars seasonally, tying sky and Country together in the story.
This place marks a key moment in the Seven Sisters story, where the sisters rested, gathered strength, and cared for one another while escaping the persistent pursuit of Wati Nyiru. The surrounding caves, rock formations, and ground features are recognised as physical evidence of the ancestral events that took place here during the Tjukurrpa.
Across many desert communities, the Seven Sisters Tjukurrpa follows the travels of the sisters as they move through Country, constantly evading Nyiru, who uses magic to disguise himself in many forms — bush foods, trees, and even animals — in an attempt to catch them. At Kuru Ala, the sisters stop to protect and heal the eldest sister before continuing their journey eastward.
Today, Kuru Ala remains an active cultural site, cared for and visited by women with ties to this Country. The story is still taught, sung, and remembered. The paintings created by artists of Papulankutja and Mantamaru reflect both the ancestral narrative and the living landscape, mapping the caves, water sources, and pathways the sisters travelled.
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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.
