Tina Napangardi Martin

In this painting women of the Napanangka and Napangardi subsection are collecting ‘jinti-parnta’ (edible fungus [Elderia arenivaga]) far to the west of Yuendumu at Karnta Karlangu, near to another place called Mina Mina. ‘Jinti-parnta’ is also known as native truffle and appears in the sandhills after the winter rains. The growing fungus forces the earth above it to crack, exposing it. Then, women collect it, squeezing out the juicie before cooking. Jinti-parnta is prepared by cooking in hot ashes. Ancestral women travelled north through Janyinki and other places, then to the east through to Alcoota country, while collecting ‘jinti-parnta’. They got to Mina Mina, which is a ceremonial place belonging to Japanangka/ Japangardi men and Napanangka/Napangardi women. Their associated land continues far to the west of Yuendumu into sand hill country. There are a number of ‘mulju’ (water soakages) and a large clay pan at Mina Mina and it is at these sites that the women danced and performed ceremonies. As a result ‘karlangu’ (digging sticks) rose up out of the ground, which the women carried with them on their long journey east. They danced and sang the whole way with no sleep. The women collected other types of bush tucker as ‘yakajirri’ (bush sultana). In the paintings of this Dreaming concentric circles are often used to represent the jinti-parnta that the women have collected.