This painting depicts designs associated with the rockhole and soakage water site of Marrapinti, west of the Kiwirrkura Community in Western Australia. The roundels represent the rockholes found at this...
This painting depicts designs associated with the rockhole and soakage water site of Marrapinti, west of the Kiwirrkura Community in Western Australia. The roundels represent the rockholes found at this site, while the lines in this work represent the large tali (sandhills) that surround Marrapinti and the nearby puli (rocky hills). During ancestral times a large group of women, represented in the painting by the arc like shapes, gathered at this site during their travels east. While at the site the women made the nose bones, also known as marrapinti, which are worn through a hole made in the nose web. These nose bones were originally used by both men and women but are now only inserted by the older generation on ceremonial occasions. Upon completion of the ceremonies at Marrapinti, the women continued their travels east to Ngaminya and then onto Wilkinkarra (Lake Mackay).