Dreamtime Sisters by Colleen Wallace Nungari | Stretched (SOLD)

The Dreamtime Sisters are good spirits dancing and looking after Colleen's country. Colleen says these sisters were once living people; her ancestors. There is a sacred site on Colleen's country where Dreamtime Sisters are carved on the rock walls, and on these walls, this is what they look like. In the centre of this painting, there is a long decorated oval flanked by U shaped symbols. The oval is the sacred site and U shapes are women performing the ceremony. Dreamtime Sisters are connected spiritually to the women as represented by the white lines. The women are performing a ceremony for Arlatyeye, a pencil yam, and its seed. It is night time when they have their ceremony and the darker coloured dots represent this. Warm, bright coloured sections are day time where women are collecting the yam with their coolamons (carved wooden bowls). The circle designs are symbolic of waterholes scattered over the country or where the women dig for arlatyeye.