Mabel Juli is well-versed in the law and culture of her people, which she upholds through ceremonial singing and dancing. This knowledge is evident in her paintings, which allude to her rich experience of the sparse desert environment around Darragyn, south of Warmun. Juli paints with natural pigments that she sources locally, applying up to six layers to capture the character of the Kimberley landscape.

This painting tells of an old woman searching for her lost dog, which she eventually discovers with a kangaroo inside a water-filled cave. Juli’s heavy black charcoal marks record the woman’s efforts to find her dog by burning the surrounding grass. The trio of woman, dog and kangaroo can be seen today as a group of stone formations in Darragyn Country.

Mabel Juli was born in the <?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" />Kimberley region of Western Australia at Five Mile, near Moola Boola Station. She is well versed in the law and culture of her Gija people, which she sustains through ceremonial singing and dancing.

Her work - using pared-back designs alluding to her rich experience of the sparse desert environment where she lives - displays a rare strength and confidence. This dedication to process is evident in Juli's use of natural ochres, which are sourced from remote locations and then finely pounded into a unique range of powdered colours. The artist's distinctive work uses minimalist forms, which sit in large fields of seductive colour; these beautiful surfaces are achieved through the application of up to six layers of pigment.

Marranyji and Dinal 2004 depicts in abstract imagery the events of a simple narrative: an old woman is searching for her dog which was chasing a kangaroo. The dog follows the kangaroo into a water-filled cave; the surrounding black border indicates that the grass has been recently burnt.