Julie Nangala Robertson
Artist Profile
***
Julie Nangala Robertson won the General Painting Award at the 2023 NATSIAA in Darwin for her painting titled Mina Mina. The Yuendumu-born artist says Mina Mina is the name of an "extremely important ceremonial site for Napangardi and Napanangka women"***
Julie Nangala Robertson (Robinson) was born in Yuendumu in 1973, as one of five daughters of Telstra Award winning, internationally acclaimed artist, Dorothy Napangardi. Since the late 1990's, while often in the company of her talented mother, Julie has pursued and developed a creative visual language all of her own, one which consists of a fascinating blend of stylised experimentation and ancient narrative.
Julie paints graphically minimal and contemporary designs of her country Pirlinyanu, a land of rocky outcrops and deep water springs near Mina Mina, out in remote country, west of Yuendumu, NT. She has moved beyond traditional iconography and created her own visual language.
In Julie's paintings she depicts the ‘Jukurrpa’ (Dreaming) that comes from Mina Mina, a very important women’s Dreaming site far to the west of Yuendumu near Lake Mackay and the WA border. The ‘kirda’ (owners) of this Dreaming are Napangardi/Napanangka women and Japangardi/Japanangka men; the area is sacred to Napangardi and Napanangka women. There are a number of ‘mulju’ (water soakages) and a ‘maluri’ (clay pan) at Mina Mina.
In the Dreamtime, ancestral women danced at Mina Mina and ‘karlangu’ (digging sticks) rose up out of the ground. The women collected the digging sticks and then travelled on to the east, dancing, digging for bush tucker, collecting ‘ngalyipi’ (snake vine [Tinospora smilacina]), and creating many places as they went. ‘Ngalyipi’ is a rope-like creeper that grows up the trunks and limbs of trees, including ‘kurrkara’ (desert oak [Allocasuarina decaisneana]). It is used as a ceremonial wrap and as a strap to carry ‘parraja’ (coolamons) and ‘ngami’ (water carriers). ‘Ngalyipi’ is also used to tie around the forehead to cure headaches, and to bind cuts.
The women stopped at Karntakurlangu, Janyinki, Parapurnta, Kimayi, and Munyuparnparn, sites spanning from the west to the east of Yuendumu. When they stopped, the women dug for bush foods like ‘jinparnta’ (desert truffle [Elderia arenivaga]). The Dreaming track eventually took them far beyond Warlpiri country. The track passed through Coniston in Anmatyerre country to the east, and then went on to Alcoota and Aileron far to the northeast of Yuendumu and eventually on into Queensland.
In Warlpiri paintings, traditional iconography is used to represent the Jukurrpa and other elements. In many paintings of this Jukurrpa, sinuous lines are used to represent the ‘ngalyipi’ (snake vine). Concentric circles are often used to represent the ‘jinparnta’ (desert truffles) that the women have collected, while straight lines can be used to depict the ‘karlangu’ (digging sticks).