GARNKINY NGARRANGGARNI: Featuring Mabel Juli
Past exhibition
Phyllis Thomas Australian, Gija, b. 1933
NYIDBARRIYA
natural earth pigment on canvas
120 x 90 cm
828193
In July of 2014, Phyllis visited the hill called Nyidbarriya which lies on her traditional country of Boornoolooloo (Purnululu) with a group of senior Gija woman. There is no road...
In July of 2014, Phyllis visited the hill called Nyidbarriya which lies on her traditional country of Boornoolooloo (Purnululu) with a group of senior Gija woman. There is no road leading to the place and it was Phyllis who navigated the party of vehicles through the scrub to the foot of Nyidbarriya and her brother the hill Goorlawoony. On arriving, Phyllis sang some 'legs' or sections of a haunting and beautiful joonba that concerns that place. Joonbas are song and dance cycles often given by spirits to living people as they dream. This Joonba was gifted to Phyllis's mother this way, who passed it on to her. One 'leg' concerns Gawarre, the specific area in Boornoolooloo where Nyidbarriya stands up as a hill, with her face turned towards the sky.