“Stories, tales and yarns grew well in the outback. And in the growing they changed, repeated, distorted and even contradicted themselves.”

- Dr Karen Knight Mudie

“I remembered my Dad’s stories of the ‘mimi’ lights and I again felt the enormity of the land and yet a feeling of being at home as I had when a child. ‘Mirages’ and silence were part of my growing up. So, alone at whatever site, I’d talk to the land and it’s inhabitants in my head. The latter were busy as spirit images on the rock faces and I could imagine them getting on with daily life, and so I wondered how to let them do this. Dad’s stories of ‘mimi’ lights later mingled with talks of ‘mimi spirits’ over a beer at Cooinda Pub with fellow artists and traditional owners of Kakadu, Nipper Kaparigi and George Namingum in 1985. When I had mentioned the western ‘mimi’ lights I was told that the ‘mimi spirits’ were ‘cheeky fellas’ and I’d felt an immediate connection to such mischievous spirits. “