Rachel Jurra Napaljarri

This painting is a map of Rachel’s country to the north west of Yuendumu. It shows a series of interlinked caves where some women are involved in ceremony. The surrounding country is a good source of bush tucker and in particular seeds from the wattle trees. These seeds are gathered by the women using their digging sticks and carried away in their coolamons. The women are shown as the U shapes, digging sticks as the linear items and the coolamons (wooden bowls) are the oval shapes. The women can be seen sitting around in caves or protected by wind breaks. These are the large semi-circular elements. The star shaped elements within some of these groups are fires that keep the women warm. Different types of country and vegetation are shown by her differing patterns – sandhills, scrubby bush and native grasses. Rachel painted this piece in Alice Springs in October 2004. After she had finished painting it she rolled up the canvas not realising that a mouse was there. The mouse had no way to escape but by chewing its way out – hence the patched area to the top right edge of the painting. She cutely told Art Mob’s gallery director, Euan Hills, about the matter and agreed that maybe it should be called “Mouse Hole Dreaming”.