Untitled Scarf by Naata Nungurrayi

Naata’s untitled painting depicts designs associated with the soakage water site of Unkunya, west of the Pollock Hills in Western Australia. The associated Tjukurrpa (Dreaming Story) tells of two snakes that passed through this site after travelling far from the east. The twin soakages that define this site were formed by the snakes as they disappeared underground. During mythological times, a group of ancestral women travelling from the west passed through Unkunya on their way to Marrapinti. The women stopped at Marrapinti to make ceremonial nose bones, also known as marrapinti, which were traditionally worn through the septum. The women continued their travels to the east, passing through Ngaminya and Wirrulnga, collecting kampurarrpa (desert raisins) from the small shrub Solanum centrale along the way.

Naata’s blazing palette and dynamic line-work breathe life into the journey of the two snakes as they shape the site of Unkunya. The artist’s repetitive use of parallel lines conjures both the travels of the women and the shapes of marrapinti they created along their way.