Doris (Darinji) Bush Nungarrayi: Bush Mangarri Tjuta

Doris has painted a plentiful memory from her past in the early days when she was learning from her mother out at Wilura and Nyumannu. Nyunmanu is a Dreaming site just to the south east of the remote Aboriginal community of Kintore in the Northern Territory.

Doris talks of her and her mother handling different types of Mangarri (food). As Doris talks about these memories she enacts the handling and eating of Mai (food) and drinking Kapi (water). Doris speaks of breaking open Pura (big wild bush tomatos) to eat the flesh and collecting and eating of ilyuru (a sweet natural cotton-candy-like bush food). Doris talks of different tools to do this like wana (digging sticks) and speaks of other parts of the fruitful landscape such as witya (trees).

Now, when Doris sits in Papunya to paint she sits under a large watiya (tree). She remembers that this same type of watiya was at Nyumannu too, and her and her mother would sit under it.

Doris recalls the whole family sitting around nikiti way (without clothes in the old days) and without any other Western tools. Doris explains “Billy can wiya! Blanket wiya! Just running around!”