Bronwyn Marshall Nangala b. 1974

Bronwyn paints Tjala Tjukurpa - Honey Ant Dreaming. Bronwyn says this is a ‘travelling story’, which started further west, and ended at Papunya, the ‘resting place’ of this Dreaming. This is Bronwyn’s grandfather’s country. Using a traditional dotting technique, Bronwyn creates symbols to depict the journey of women to collect the honey ants. The u-shapes around the central roundels represents the minyma (women) who are digging for the prized tucker, with their piti (coolamons) and wana (digging sticks) beside them. Honey ants are insects with swollen abdomens full of sweet, honey-like nectar, and are a highly sought-after tucker by desert dwellers. The ants dig tunnels deep into the ground in arid woodland country, creating branching chambers in the roots of the mulga trees. Aboriginal people know to look for the ants coming from small holes in the earth, and they know how to follow the tunnels to reveal the larger nests full of the ants and their larvae.