Nelly Patterson

‘Tjurkurrpa Pulka – Minma (Big Womens Story)’ by Nelly Patterson. This is a very important woman’s story for Nelly. Its a story about the strong woman’s culture. Nelly sings the story while she is painting. Nelly is worried for her peoples culture and special ceremonial songs. Nelly tells the story like this. There are many women sitting together, young old and middle age women. All the elders begin singing together and the middle age people join in, singing and dancing. The women begin having a big ceremony. It is very important ceremony for all these women. The elders tell the middle age women not to tell the young people the sacred songs because they are not keeping them secret and safe. The orange circle symbolises a nulla nulla which is special tool also used for dancing. These beautiful, unique rugs are a cross-cultural collaboration combining Aboriginal designs and traditional Kashmiri rug-making techniques. Chain stitched, using hand dyed wool and finished with a heavy cotton backing, each rug is a completely handmade piece. This project is unusual because the rug is owned by the artist, rather than licensed to a third party. A more empowering way to work, this brings many direct benefits to the artists’ and their community. Control and ownership of intellectual property are also maintained. Purchase of these rugs guarantees a direct return to the aboriginal artist and their community.