Mary Jones Ngale (Nagala) Aboriginal Artist

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An aboriginal artist from the Utopia region of the Northern Territory of Australia, (north east of Alice Springs), Mary Jones Ngala or Nagale is one of a group of women Aboriginal from Central Australia, creating artwork which represents the culture and tradition of indigenous Australian Aboriginal people. Like many traditional Aboriginal women, cultural education begins at an early age, where the process of painting is part of ceremony. Women of the previous generation pass on the knowledge of signs, symbols and the dreamings - jukurrpa. Jukurrpa is not dreams experienced during sleep, but more akin to myths and legends, in this case, of indigenous peoples that go back 40,000 to 60,000 years. The process itself is important, not the painted result.

Mary’s paintings are distinguished by a sure sense of colour especially when creating paintings representing the bush yam - root system and flowers. On the upper layer of a painting of this particular jukurrpa , Mary creates the illusion of an abundance of flowers by painting dots of various small sizes which are the flowers of the yam plant. The meandering lines beneath the surface of the dots, represent the root system of the bush yam. The composition then appears as if to ”float” on a background, often rich black – the primer colour of the Belgium linen. The yam, a traditional bush food, is of great importance to the people of the Utopia region of the Northern Territory of Australia. These patterns are also applied by one women onto the other as body paint, an important part of traditional ceremonies.

Information on birth date, specific region and clan or language group, country and area, present whereabouts, status and family connections, of this indigenous artist is requested from other Wikipedia contributors.