Mary Umagarri Teresa Taylor Balanggarra, 1939-2018
22 1/2 x 29 7/8 in
Mary has depicted the pretty rocks (Aru) and pools of her husband's country in Berkeley River. Mary’s art details the rock formations along the Berkeley River as part of her ongoing connection to her husband and his country. Having lived and walked the river length with her husband and their children, Mary is acutely familiar with the geography and geology of place. Her swirling circle formation show the eddies of small rock pools and the rock markers along the river banks. Here she played as a girl amongst the ‘aru’- rocks and stones, fishing, swimming and telling stories. Occasional trees, palms and bush flowers add to her compositions of stones and rockholes signifying a particular memory and place of importance. Her inspiration came from the stories told to her by her husband. "The stories told to me while we hunted for fish and turtle. He was a good old man, my husband." Mary was born in Wyndham and grew up in Oombulgurri (Forrest River). She learned painting from the old people by watching their ground paintings and painted for the first time in 2009. Mary moved to Kalumburu in 2005 to be with two of her seven children. Mary is one of the Traditional Owners for the Balingarra land claim, determined in August 2013.