In the case of this work, it’s a presentation of the ceremonial activity at a great women’s ritual event held on rare occasions in the bush between Papunya and Mt...
In the case of this work, it’s a presentation of the ceremonial activity at a great women’s ritual event held on rare occasions in the bush between Papunya and Mt Liebig. If you look at the painting oriented as it is in your email, the emblems can be read as follows. At the top right, and at the bottom left, there is a prominent stick-like shape, which is a “mangaia” - a sacred nulla nulla that represents the particular site being addressed in an increase ceremony - a fire dreaming site at top right and water dreaming at bottom left respectively. You could say these mangaia are intensifying sticks or beacons that direct a prayer or appeal outwards to the relevant site. The central vertical band is of course an encoding of the five great water dreaming sites in AA’s traditional country. If you look at the bottom of that vertical, budding off to its left is what looks like a set of pom-poms - they are in fact the holy bands that women at these ceremonial events wear on their brows. To the bottom right of the painting you can see a set of narrow white vertical lines: this marks the strait dance pattern traced out by women when they dance backwards at the climax of the ritual. To the top left is a representation of the groups of women from different subsections."