Sam Juparulla Wickman

Two Sisters Dancing This story starts zigzagging in black & white ceremony in Luritja country, and then goes east 780km to east Arrernte and then goes in a straight line to Lilla (Kings Canyon, southern perimeter in Willy Wagtail country) and then on to the eastern side of Uluru zigzagging across the landscape. It then goes on to Blackstone which is west of Yankunytjatjara/Pitjatjantjara country. This painting depicts the south western MacDonnell Ranges near Alice Springs up to Ross River. This series of hills form together a mountain range which is known as the Dancing Lubras. The hills depict the breasts of the women as they danced this journey. As they danced at the same time the Nakamara women squeezed their breasts and fed all the stories up there in the sky and that formed the Milky Way. This is story about nourishment. The skies are an important part of Sam’s Two Sisters Dancing series as they show the landscape and the sky at different times of the day or night. At the same there was a little boy playing with mud. This formed Uluru. All these stories relate to the heavens and the earth. Women are important in the male initiation process. They are ones who lift the country up and the spirits up and who travel around gathering the young men for initiation. They dance continually for days and nights across the country non stop and this painting depicts just one element of that ceremony.