Collected Stories

This collaborative work by eight women from Papunya Tula Artists details a vast area Country in the Western Desert region, and the stories connected to particular sites, especially the travels of female ancestors. At the site of Yilpikarri, the stomach of a heavily pregnant ancestral Mingari (Thonry Devil), who was unable to give birth after a painful and long labour, broke open and her eggs spilled out, becoming the rocky hills in the area. At Tjukurla, ancestral women wearing nyimparra (hair string skirts) gathered for ceremony and to collect mangata (quandong). Closer to Walungurru is Yuwalki, a site the Kungka Kutjarra (Two Travelling Women) passed through, holding ceremonies and gathering kampurarrpa (desert raisins), wangunu (grass seeds) and pura (bush tomatoes). West of Walungurru is Tjintjintjin. Here, there is a large and permanent water source in a cave that was visited by an older ancestral woman on her travels eastward. She was taunted by a group of young boys, some of whom she killed and cooked on a fire. The ancestral woman travelled until she arrived at the site of Kaltarra, where she entered the earth and continued her travels underground.