DOROTHY NAPANGARDI (1956-2013) 'Salt on Mina Mina'

Dorothy Napangardi was a preeminent painter of the Indigenous Australian art movement, renowned for her dotted canvases that reflect her spiritual connection to the land. While they appear to chart abstract landscapes, her paintings reference the journeys of her Warlpiri ancestors through the sacred bush of Mina Mina. Napangardi began tracing this topography in 1997, when she returned to her homeland for the first time. She had been painting for about a decade by then, previously focusing on brightly coloured paintings of native plants. Featuring geometric repetitions and an often monochromatic palette, her Mina Mina paintings have received widespread acclaim at major exhibitions including a 2002–2003 survey at Museum of Contemporary Art Australia and the 2012 Biennale of Sydney. Merging physical observation, creation stories, and designs associated with Jukurrpa (“Dreamtime“), Napangardi’s paintings are a transference of knowledge between those who came before and after her.