The mimpu or deep wooden water carrying bowl is a traditional woman’s vessel designed especially for transporting water. It usually carved from a knot or scar on the trunk of a Desert Bloodwood or a curved root section of the River Red Gum tree. Contemporary artists use walka, patterns burnt into the wood with wire heated on a wood fire. These relate Tjukurpa, stories about the Tjukuritja  or Creation Ancestors and the activities which shaped the land, the people and their Law. Many of the details of Tjukurpa are restricted to senior custodians so it is not possible to describe the full story behind the walka.

The artist hasn’t elaborated on the story of this walka, however it contains many elements of traditional desert design. Series of curving lines are often described as parts of the country: wind rippled sand dunes, intercut by the tracks of a Tjukuritja; the burrowings of animals; or the dry bed of a desert creek. In telling stories, women sit flicking sticks in the sand as they talk and they say walka is like this, the rhythmic strokes that accompany stories.