Ngalyipi Jinta Punta Jukurrpa (Snake Vine Mushroom Dreaming)

Maggie Watson Napangardi, Warlpiri / Australian, about 1920 - 2004
Warlpiri
Yuendumu
Western Desert
Northern Territory
Australia

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1996

Acrylic on canvas

Overall: 72 1/16 × 47 13/16 in. (183 × 121.5 cm)

Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth: Gift of Will Owen and Harvey Wagner

2011.60.76

Geography

Place Made: Australia, Oceania

Period

20th century

Object Name

Painting

Research Area

Painting

Not on view

Label

Maggie Watson Napangardi joins the extended tradition of depicting inherited stories through painting. Portraying creation stories from the Dreaming, these paintings become a means for Indigenous Australian artists to represent sacred narratives and ceremonies to the outside world. Each artist can only paint their own family’s stories, meaning each work contributes to a collective memory. The work, despite appearing fully abstract, portrays the journey of the Napangardi and Napanangka women walking across the desert and collecting bush mushrooms.

With bright colors and a rhythmic quality, Watson’s work conveys a joyful feeling. But beyond its visual accomplishments, the work serves as a crucial rendering of spiritual tradition that is intertwined with the land. Created for an audience outside of the Indigenous community, the painting not only informs the viewer of the traditions of the Napangardi people, but also celebrates Aboriginal culture amid years of oppression.

From the 2022 exhibition A Space for Dialogue 105, Transcendent Landscapes: Abstracting Nature, curated by Alice Crow '22, Levinson Intern

Course History

WRIT 5, Indigenous Knowledge and Development, Kenneth Bauer, Winter 2013

ARTH 16, ANTH 50, Australian Aborigional Art, Howard Morphy, Fall 2012

ARTH 16, ANTH 50, Australian Aborigional Art, Howard Morphy, Fall 2012

ARTH 16, ANTH 50, Australian Aborigional Art, Howard Morphy, Fall 2012

ARTH 16, ANTH 50, Australian Aborigional Art, Howard Morphy, Fall 2012

WRIT 5, Nature and Imagination: The Meanings of Place, William Nichols, Fall 2012

SART 29, Photography I, Brian Miller, Fall 2012

SART 30, Photography II, Brian Miller, Fall 2012

SART 25, Painting I, Esme Thompson, Fall 2012

SART 25, Painting I, Enrico Riley, Fall 2012

ANTH 30, Hunters and Gatherers, Nathaniel Dominy, Fall 2012

THEA 28, Dance Composition, Ford Evans, Fall 2012

SART 15, Drawing I, Gerald Auten, Fall 2012

SART 20, SART 71, Drawing II, Drawing III, Colleen Randall, Fall 2012

NAS 42, Gender Issues in Native American Life, Vera Palmer, Fall 2012

SART 31/SART 72, Painting II/III, Colleen Randall, Spring 2022

Exhibition History

A Space for Dialogue 105, Transcendent Landscape: Abstracting Nature, Alice Crow, Class of 2023, Alvin P. Gutman Gallery, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, March 5 - April 23, 2022

Contemporary Abstraction: Works from the Hood Museum of Art's Permanent Collection, Churchill P. Lathrop Gallery, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, January 4-March 13, 2016.

Crossing Cultures: The Owen and Wagner Collection of Contemporary Aboriginal Australian Art at the Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, September 15, 2012-March 10, 2013; Toledo Museum of Art, April 11-July 14, 2013.

Publication History

Stephen Gilchrist, editor, Crossing Cultures, The Owen and Wagner Collection of Contemporary Aboriginal Art at the Hood Museum of Art, Hanover: Trustees of Dartmouth College, 2012, p. 64; p. 146, no. 75.

John R. Stomberg, The Hood Now: Art and Inquiry at Dartmouth, Hanover, New Hampshire: Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, 2019, p. 193, ill. plate no. 124.

Provenance

Native Art of Australia Pty. Ltd., Alice Springs, Northern Territory, Australia; sold to Will Owen (1952-2015) and Harvey Wagner (1931-2017), Chapel Hill, North Carolina; lent to present collection, 2011; given to present collection, 2013.

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