Mamungari - Renae Nelson

Mamungari by SA artist Renae Nelson - Finalist in the 2024 Heysen Prize for Landscape.

‘Mamungari-nya is a long, long way over the other side of the sand dunes past Tipilnga, a place where many white trees grow. This is the place where women came and were turned into the white marble gums on the sand dune south of Watarru. Mamungari-nya is a place of claypans and a special women's site where lots of little gum saplings and emu bush grow.’

My nana, she used to work with Land management, and she would take out all the traditional owners to Minyma Tjuta Kutju. Only women were allowed to visit this country because it's a special women's site. When I was a teenager, I went on the trips, and we camped at Mamangar-nya. There we did patch burning, collected bush tucker, and went digging for maku, tjala and tinka. We cleaned up the area and identified native plants. We found buffalo grass growing and cleaned up the area with patch burning. We made damper and collected tjanpi to weave with. My nanas would tell me stories about how to take care of the environment, both physically and spiritually. They taught me how to take care of my country so that it will be preserved for many generations. Thank you for listening to my story.

Materials: Acrylic on canvas
Dimensions (cm): 100 H x 150 W

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