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Rama’s painting illustrates the Mingkiri Tjukurpa – the Dreaming of the marsupial mice near Kuntjanu, his country in remote north-western South Australia.

The artwork shows the many burrows where the mingkiri live. The mingkiri are seen digging with their mulya (noses) to block the entrances to their holes.

When Rama speaks about the Wanampi Tjukurpa (Rainbow Serpent Dreaming), he explains that many stories are all together — tjungu (together, united). The mingkiri people cry when Wanampi is speared by a left-handed man. But Wanampi’s wife was carrying his son in her womb, so the Rainbow Serpent still lives today at the rockhole in Kuntjanu.

The kuniya (python) and liru (snake) people also appear in this one big story — all connected in a powerful, shared Tjukurpa.