Yinjaa-Barni Art

---

---

After the Cyclone (Allery)

I’m a Yindjibarndi woman, and this painting is about our Country after the rain.

This year we had a big cyclone, and there was so much rain. When that happens, everything changes. The rivers and creeks come alive again, running full and strong, and the Country just fills up with colour. It’s a beautiful time — everything is fresh, growing, and moving again. Our families can go out, go fishing, kids swimming, and we can sit together and enjoy that time on Country.

When there’s been that much rain, the water stays for a long time. The rivers stay full, and it gives life to everything around it. You see it in the plants, in the grasses, in the way the land looks and feels.

I get a lot of inspiration when I’m flying over Country. When I look down from the plane and I know I’m coming over Churrada Station, I can see my home — the hills and the landscape that I love. Seeing it from above, you really notice the patterns, the way the water moves through the land, and how the colours spread out.

I love the wildflowers that come after the rain. There’s so many colours, but that bright yellow flower really stands out to me — it’s everywhere now. I’ve even got some growing in my yard that I look after and watch every day. The spinifex is so green too, covering the land, dotting the landscape everywhere you look.

This painting is about that feeling — when the rain has come, the Country is full, and everything is alive again.

---

---

Fallen Seeds

We have many fallen seeds from our plants that give new growth to our wild flowers.

---

---

---

---

Salt Flats

There are many Salt flats in the Pilbara.This painting depicts the water flowing underneath with the salt forming on top in ripples to show the movement of the ocean.

---

---

Tharma and Jinda

Thama (fire) and jinda (charcoal): When you get the marruwa (snakewood) and make fire, you see it burning, burning, burning. After the fire burns the wood becomes black, jinda (charcoal). And then the ash comes. Marruwa is the best stick to burn because it burns so hot.This is fire burning with ashes after.

---

---

Waterholes

This painting shows the many waterholes you find in the Pilbara region. Some are well known, others are hidden amongst the hills.

Dimensions: 38 x 58cm

---

---

Mulla Mulla

The purple Mulla Mulla, called Gumbarli in Yindjibarndi. It’s a bright purple flower that grows all over our Country, lining the roads and spreading wide after the seasons change. I love seeing this strong colour across the land when it comes into bloom.

Dimensions: 29 x94cm

---

---

Dimensions: 77 x 94 cm

---

---

Emu Seeds

In this painting I have depicted the pods of a shrub which is common in the Pilbara area. It is a smallish bush which comes into seed in September, when the Emu is visible in the Milky Way. This is the time the emu chicks hatch and it is one of their main sources of food. When the pod opens the parent emus feed the little black seeds to their chicks. The seed pod, which is about the size and the shape of a cockroach, turns from orange to yellow, so when all the bushes are in pod at different stages, there is a brilliant display of orange and yellow colours throughout the country. The official name of this annual shrub is Senna notabilis, but, due to the oblong, flat shape and the glossy golden brown colour of its pods, it is known commonly as Cockroach Bush. It has a little round fruit, a berry, that starts of green and turns red when it is ripe, but it’s poisonous. The shrub starts off as a light green colour and then, as it matures, it gets darker. The flowers are a yellowy orange and they, too, get darker with a bit of black as they are fading away.

Dimensions: 60 x 30cm

---

---

Midnight Sky

This painting reminds me of when we go camping out bush we always camp out in the flat where we can see the stars shining.

Dimensions: 60 x 91.5 cm