Nora Wompi
Born about 1930’s
Manyjilyjarra, Kukatja language groups, Nungurrayi skin group
Kunawarritji Community
Martumili Artists
I used to cry for my mother, but my brother would carry me, leave me in the shade and wet my hair…
Nora Wompi was born with ‘pussycat’ (feral cat) Dreaming at Pingakurangu rockhole near Kunawarritji. As a teenager, she travelled north with the drovers to Billiluna and Balgo. Today, she lives at Kunawarritji but she continues to travel regularly between the two communities, painting for both Warlayirti and Martumili art centres.
Kunawarritji
2007, by Nora Wompi
acrylic on canvas, 150×95 cm
Martumili Artists, National Museum of Australia
This is a rock hole that was made in the Jukurrpa. These Kanaputa [ancestral beings] are the stars in the sky. The Seven Sisters are standing up as a group of trees between Nyipil [Well 34] and Kunawarritji [Well 33]. I was a little baby here at the rock holes of Kunawarritji and Nyarruri [Well 32]. I painted all the little hills around that area. In the Jukurrpa, they were all squeezed out of the soft earth. People made them.
