Artist: Debra Nangala McDonald
Title: Honey Ant Dreaming (Tjupi Jukurrpa)
Area: Papunya, Western Desert NT
Medium: Acrylic on Canvas
Size: 30 x 30cm

Certificate of Authenticity included with painting
Stretched

Artwork: This painting depicts the story of honey ant dreaming – ‘Tjupi Jukurrpa at Papunya’ which means dreaming at Papunya. The concentric dotted circles are the holes where the honey ants can be found. “We go looking for honey ants on the weekend –and we dig them up with a digging stick.” Debra Nangala McDonald.

Debra Nangala McDonald is a Pintupi artist, born at Papunya in 1963. Her mother Martha McDonald was an artist, as were her aunties Linda Syddick and Wentja Napaltjarri. This family artists inherits a strong line of stories that relate to their own family story when they travelled over great distances form the Gibson Desert to come into the desert settlements. The family group settled in the small communities at Haasts Bluff, Paunya and Mt Liebig during the 1940’s. The clan leader of this small group was Shorty Lungkata Tjungurrayi (c1920 -1987) who was Debria McDonald’s grandfather.