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Minyma Kutjarra – (Two Sisters)

‘Minyma Kutjara’ (Two Ladies), is a popularly depicted story by women from the Ngaanyatjarra Lands. The painting has different chapters depending on where the artist is from and the inherited story of their ancestors.  we see the ladies sitting together at their camp situated among the sand hills. They are surrounded by an abundance of desert flowers and fruits. The painting is a reflection on the lush nature of the land that was so many years ago. When there is rain coming to the lands it makes everyone so pleased as it indicates good foraging and hunting.

Categories: Papulankutja Artists

Name: Jennifer Nginyaka Mitchell

Language: Pitjantjatjara

Community: Papulankutja (Blackstone)

Biography:

Jennifer was born in c1955 at Kala Tjuti near Irruntju (Wingelina) in the Ngaanyatjarra Lands. Kala Tjuti is an important place culturally as it is the site of the Emu dreaming place and the Wati Kutjara dreaming story.

As a child she travelled across the Ngaanyatjarra Lands, Pitjantjatjara and Yankunyjatjarra Lands (APY Lands) with her family and was near Maralinga when atomic rocket testing was conducted by the British, American and Australian Defense Forces in the 1950s. Her grandfather became ill from the radioactive flalout and died soon after. Having returned from Oodnadatta, SA Jennifer and her family hid away in wiltja (bush shelters) at Watinuma to be safe from the bomb.

Jennifer remembers hiding during the day, only coming out at night when the smoke was gone. She said her eyes stung after the bomb. They were helped by Mr McDonald a government official who made sure the Aboriginal people were well away, over the range, from the test site.

Jennifer became a senior custodian of the Kuru Ala Seven Sisters site  after her mother Eileen Tjayanka Woods passed away. 

She started making tjanpi (grass) baskets in 1995 and has been painting since 2008. Jennifer is also an accomplished basket-maker and sculptor (animated dogs and caricatures of people) out of wool and grass. 

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© the artist / art centre