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Margaret’s Father’s Country

My father’s place is Mt. Liebe, sandhill country.  The Wanapi rests there under the surface of the creek.  When we go to visit that country, the Wanapi stirs underneath the ground and bubbles rise up in the water.  He is there to protect that place.  We speak to that Wanapi in our language and he knows then that it is us. It’s okay for us to be there and the bubbles settle back down.  Close to this creek is where the Arkaryi women are sitting.  This is an important women’s site.  I can’t speak too much about that, as it would be dangerous to disturb those women.

Categories: Ernabella Arts Inc.

Name: Margaret Inyika Wells


Language: Pitjantjatjara


Community: Pukatja


Biography:

Margaret is a senior painter working at Ernabella Arts. Her vibrant, intricate paintings of country and landscape mirror her exuberant personality. She holds deep knowledge of culture. She spends her weekends collecting honey ants and witchetty grubs with her grandchildren on nearby homelands.

Margaret was born in her father's country at Haasts Bluff, and later moved to Papunya when the new settlement was created there. She went to school in Papunya before moving to Areyonga with her family. She finished school there and then went to Darwin for twelve years and trained as a nurse. She returned to Alice Springs and reunited with family. She then moved to her mother's country in Pukatja (Ernabella) with her brother, senior artist, Kunmanara Jangala Carroll. She later married in Ernabella and now has six grandchildren.


© the artist / art centre