Name: Marissa Riley
Language: Wajarri
Community: Yulga Jinna
Biography:
Marissa Riley is a Nharnu Wajarri woman who grew up in Yulga Jinna Community. She is an artist and advocate for her community. Marissa attended remote schooling (School of the Air) as well as schooling in the regional town of Meekatharra. Currently she is living in Newman. Marissa recalls learning to paint with her aunty and nana when she was 10 years old. She paints about her country, dreaming stories, animals, and community life.
Yulga Jinna is a self-managed community located about 130kms north outside of the remote Mid-West town of Meekatharra. The name of the community, Yulga Jinna, means ‘Flat Foot’ in Wajarri. The community is located near to the Robinson Ranges in the Gascoyne-Murchison region, spanning between the Indian Ocean inland all the way to the Great Sandy Desert.
Lake and Sandhills This work depicts a warla (lake) within the artists’ ngurra (home Country, camp), typically represented with circular forms. As a reliable source of water in the often harsh and arid Martu lands, Read more…
Mungili Rock Holes “Mungili rock hole. Big rock hole, big Country. I never see that place. My mother born [there], her and her grandmother walk through there, they tell me story [for that place]. Mother Read more…
Kumpupirntily (Kumpupintily, Lake Disappointment) “Clouds here. It’s dry, no water, but still flowers grow.” – Helen Dale Samson Kumpupirntily (Kumpupintily, Lake Disappointment) is a stark, flat and unforgiving expanse of blinding salt lake surrounded by sand Read more…