Chilling out Ngurra
Tamisha WILLIAMS: artist
‘This photograph is part of a series of work that photographer Tamisha Williams executed in 2019, capturing her ngurra (home) in Parnpajinya. Parnpajinya is a small Aboriginal community adjacent to the town of Newman.
The Western Desert term ‘ngurra’ is hugely versatile in application. Broadly denoting birthplace and belonging, ngurra can refer to a body of water, a camp site, a large area of Country, or even a modern house. People identify with their ngurra interms of specific rights and responsibilities, and the possession of intimate knowledge of the physical and cultural propertiesof one’s Country. This knowledge is traditionally passed intergenerationally through family connections. Country for Martu is full of memory; not just the memory of their own movement through it, but also of their family. As summarised by Ngalangka Nola Taylor, “painting the ngurra, they do it to remember their connections.”
Painting ngurra, and in so doing sharing the Jukurrpa (Dreaming) stories and physical characteristics of that place, has today become an important means of cultural maintenance. Physical maintenance of one’s ngurra, like cultural maintenance, ensures a site’s wellbeing, and is a responsibility of the people belonging to that area. Here Tamisha has reimagined the depiction of ngurra through the camera lens, providing the viewer with an intimate vantage point, and celebrating the safety and comfort Tamisha feels in her home’ (Martumili Artists certificate, 2020).
The Western Desert term ‘ngurra’ is hugely versatile in application. Broadly denoting birthplace and belonging, ngurra can refer to a body of water, a camp site, a large area of Country, or even a modern house. People identify with their ngurra interms of specific rights and responsibilities, and the possession of intimate knowledge of the physical and cultural propertiesof one’s Country. This knowledge is traditionally passed intergenerationally through family connections. Country for Martu is full of memory; not just the memory of their own movement through it, but also of their family. As summarised by Ngalangka Nola Taylor, “painting the ngurra, they do it to remember their connections.”
Painting ngurra, and in so doing sharing the Jukurrpa (Dreaming) stories and physical characteristics of that place, has today become an important means of cultural maintenance. Physical maintenance of one’s ngurra, like cultural maintenance, ensures a site’s wellbeing, and is a responsibility of the people belonging to that area. Here Tamisha has reimagined the depiction of ngurra through the camera lens, providing the viewer with an intimate vantage point, and celebrating the safety and comfort Tamisha feels in her home’ (Martumili Artists certificate, 2020).
Title
Chilling out Ngurra
Artist/Maker and role
Tamisha WILLIAMS: artist
Date
2020
Medium
photographic print on cotton rag paper
Measurements
80.0 x 120.0 cm
83.3 x 123.3 x 5.8 cm (framed)
83.3 x 123.3 x 5.8 cm (framed)
Credit line
Purchased through The Art Gallery of Western Australia Foundation: COVID-19 Arts Stimulus Package, 2020
The State Art Collection, The Art Gallery of Western Australia
Accession number
2020/0323