Judy Napangardi Watson - Kurrkara Jukurrpa (Desert Oak Dreaming from Mina Mina)

Kurrkara is the shade tree where the women in this painting sat down to rest at Mina Mina, an important ceremonial place belonging to Japanangka/Japangardi men and Napanangka/Napangardi women. Mina Mina and the associated land is far to the west of Yuendumu in the sandhill country. Napanangka and Napangardi women are shown here collecting Jintiparnta (Edible fungus) at Kantakarlangu, an area that is also called Mina Mina. Ancestral women travelled from here to the north through Janyinki and other places then to the east to Alcoota country. There are a number of Mulju (water soakages) and a clay pan at Mina Mina and it is here that the women danced and performed various ceremonies. As a result Karla-ngu (digging sticks) rose up out of the ground and it is these implements that the women carried with them on their long journey east.

ARTIST: Judy Napangardi Watson
TITLE: Kurrkara Jukurrpa
MEDIUM: Etching & aquatint
PLATE DRAWN & ETCHED: Darwin, July 2008
EDITION: 100
HAND PRINTED BY: Sean Smith & Nena Zanos
AT: Basil Hall Editions, Darwin
DATE COMPLETED: January 2009

The 2009 team at Basil Hall Editions (BHE) and six talented indigenous artists from northern and central Australia are proud to present Series IV of BHE’s Collectors’ Folios.

Over the last four years we have now presented you with four series of superb etchings, silkscreens and relief prints; twenty four perfect excuses to start an art collection, gather inexpensive works by major Australian artists or give a unique gift.

These prints have been made in collaboration with Indigenous people from remote communities in the Northern Territory, Queensland, Western and South Australia. Basil Hall and his printers have travelled many thousands of kilometres to work on the plates, screens or blocks with the artists, before returning to the Darwin studio of BHE to proof and edition the prints by hand.

Once the prints have dried, they are carefully numbered out of 100 and have the studio stamp applied to the bottom corner. They are sent to the artists for their approval and signature and return to the studio for packing in their specially designed folios.

This co-publication between the Art Centres, artists and BHE means that the artists are paid up front for their work, while the prints are wholesaled by the Art Centres themselves and BHE. If you need to find out stockists in your state or territory, call Basil Hall on 08 89417445 or enquire at the Art Centres above if you are visiting the Top End or Central Australia.