Seven Sisters Dreaming
Mary Dixon Nungurrayi, Warlpiri / Australian, born 1960
Warlpiri
Papunya
Western Desert
Northern Territory
Australia
1996
Acrylic on canvas
Overall: 47 1/4 × 35 7/16 in. (120 × 90 cm)
Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth: Gift of Will Owen and Harvey Wagner
2009.92.205
Geography
Place Made: Australia, Oceania
Period
20th century
Object Name
Painting
Research Area
Painting
Not on view
Label
The Milky Way divides the middle of this painting with the central roundel representing Jilbi, the Ancestral man who pursued the Seven Sisters; they would eventually become the Pleiades star cluster. The roundels at either end represent the morning and evening stars. The sisters are shown at either side, camped around the sacred site Uluru (known previously to westerners as Ayers Rock, though the name has now officially been returned). The design around the sisters is drawn from women’s ceremonial body paint, and they remain connected, seemingly protected by the oscillating bands of color.
From the 2023 exhibition Layered Histories: Indigenous Australian Art from the Kimberley and Central Desert, curated by Amelia Kahl, Barbara C. & Harvey P. Hood 1918 Curator of Academic Programming
Course History
Geography 31.01, Postcolonial Geographies, Erin Collins, Fall 2023
Studio Art 17.08, Digital Drawing, Karol Kawiaka, Winter 2024
Studio Art 17.08, Digital Drawing, Karol Kawiaka, Winter 2024
Exhibition History
Layered Histories: Indigenous Australian Art from the Kimberely and Central Desert, Amelia Kahl, Curator, 5 August 2023 - 2 March 2024, Citrin Family Gallery, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth, Hanover, New Hampshire.
Provenance
Aboriginal Gallery of Dreamings, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia (Certificate of Authenticity); sold to Will Owen (1952-2015) and Harvey Wagner (1931-2017), Chapel Hill, North Carolina, December 14, 1996; given to present collection, 2009.
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