Niningka Lewis was born in the 1950s between the mission settlement of Areyonga and Tempe Downs cattle station in the Northern Territory. She grew up in the Ernabella area, making regular family trips throughout her traditional lands. After living and working in Kalka for many years and then Mutitjulu in the Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park, she is now based back in Ernabella. Niningka has a distinctive style and her unusual carvings have been in many exhibitions. She is also a leading artist with Tjanpi, sculpting and weaving native grass artefacts.

Walka is Desert design and inextricably linked with Tjurkurpa: the Law and way of life of Anangu (Central and Western Desert Aboriginal people). The symbols were traditionally used in cave, ground and body paintings, in story telling, teaching and signalling inheritance. Meaning of the designs depends on its subject and particular people are responsible for their re-creation and teaching according to the Tjukurpa.

Both the dotting and wire etching techniques have become Centralian traditions, evolving with the adaptation of traditional design for public display and as a depiction of Tjukurpa and landscape. This walka board reflects strong culture: re-enacting ancestral travels, celebrating the sacred nature of the country and its interrelated plant, animal and human inhabitants. It passes on to you some of the teachings of Tjukurpa.

Niningka’s walka here is Kungkarangkalpa, the Tjukurpa of the Seven Sisters. The women are pursued by a cunning man called Nyiru who attemps to lure them into marriage with him. They travelled through a vast amount of Australia and this painting represents a stage in that journey. Nyiru is the solitary figure with his spears and spear thrower. In the escape from him they stopped to camp, build shelters and hunt for food, thus forming many features of the landscape. Eventually they fled into the sky where they became the constellation known as the Pleaides or Seven Sisters. Nyiru of course is still following them ceaselessly across the night sky as one of the bright stars in the constellation known as Orion.