Doris Bush Nungarrayi

Snake this one, eating, here, at the water. This mob over there are stabbing it with a spear. He’s trying to bite and eat that one over there. And that over there is coming to look at him, that one. This one, he’s watching, he is, ‘ooohhh!’, sneaking up intending to bite it. That one over there … he bit him, that goanna yep, this one. Coming to here, coming through the bush to the water, ‘ooohhh!’, they see it! ‘What happened here?’ Over there, a goanna is coming along. Going, going into the bush, across the water, sneaking up to try and bite it. Yeah, this one, two men standing, over there is another, there watching all this the snake, see? And see this line ... he’s slowly sneaking along it. After that, that one over there stabs him with a spear, with a spear he stabbed. Went and got that goanna and ate it, over there came and see all this mob. Yeah, finished like that, that’s how I made this one by the water.

In this story Doris paints an assortment of important women in her life, each of them a representation and not strictly assigned to the individual. There is Doris' two mothers, her sister and herself. In a display of their resilience they are shown surrounded by an abundance of bush tucker.

In this painting Doris paints about the Pangkalangu man who is a mythological cave man or 'big foot' known by the people of Papunya to inhabit Ulumparru, the mountain range bordering the southern fringe of Papunya and visible from all quarters of Papunya town. The Pangkalangu man is known by his thunderous footsteps which often awake people late at night when he comes in to town. Sometimes his camp fire can be seen from Papunya up high in the Ulumparru mountain range, often during or after rain. In this painting Doris depicts the footprints of the Pangkalangu man as he journeys between the water holes of Ulumparru.

This painting tells one of many water dreamings from the Papunya area. The circles represent important water or rock hole sites. The background design symbolises the landscape after the rains when the earth has been replenished with new growth. The rock holes collect the water during the rains. Knowledge of where to find water is handed down from generation to generation to ensure survival in the desert. This work represents the elements of a storm - wind, rain, thunderclouds and lightning. It also tells the story of rain and water flowing from the waterholes and flooding the usually dry creek beds. If present, the U shapes are the women sitting around the rock holes.

This is a memory from Doris's past. Doris talks of the times when she was a young girl in the bush, swimming and hunting with her friends at Ikuntji (Haasts Bluff). She talks of sand hills where the young people would wander naked looking for water, "chasing" the water until they found a water hole. The young men and women would swim together and make love by the water hole. Eventually, Doris explains, the young people fall in love and are married. Doris is remembering the traditional tools and weapons that were used by her and her friends in the bush. Doris depicts Kali (boomerang), wana (digging stick), puli (grinding stone), kutitji (shield), kulata (spear) and kantikanti (hitting stick). "Snake this one, eating, here, at the water. This mob over there are stabbing it with a spear. He’s trying to bite and eat that one over there. And that over there is coming to look at him, that one. This one, he’s watching, he is, ‘ooohhh!’, sneaking up intending to bite it. That one over there … he bit him, that goanna yep, this one. Coming to here, coming through the bush to the water, ‘ooohhh!’, they see it! ‘What happened here?’ Over there, a goanna is coming along. Going, going into the bush, across the water, sneaking up to try and bite it. Yeah, this one, two men standing, over there is another, there watching all this the snake, see? And see this line ... he’s slowly sneaking along it. After that, that one over there stabs him with a spear, with a spear he stabbed. Went and got that goanna and ate it, over there came and see all this mob. Yeah, finished like that, that’s how I made this one by the water."