Indigenous pots and mats -  Warlukurlangu artists collaboration

Karnta Jukurrpa (Womens Dreaming)

This painting depicts Nakamarra and Napurrurla women hunting for bush foods. The ‘kirda’ (owners) for this story are Nakamarra/Napurrurla women and Jakamarra/Jupurrurla men. Yumurrpa and Wapurtali are two major Dreaming sites owned by the Nakamarra/Jakamarra and Napurrurla/Jupurrurla subsections; these sites are also associated with bush food Dreamings. Yumurrpa is a major waterhole to the northwest of Yuendumu and a ‘yarla’ (bush potato [Ipomea costata]) Dreaming site. The area north of Wapurtali/Yintaramurru (Mt. Singleton) is a ‘wanakiji’ (bush tomato [Solanum chippendalei]) Dreaming site.

Warlpiri women hunt for a number of different bush foods at different times of the year. These include ‘ngarlkirdi’ (witche􀆩y grubs [Endoxyla leucomochla larvae]), ‘yunkaranyi’ (honey ants [Camponotus inflatus]), ‘jintiparnta’ and ‘purlantarri’ (desert truffle [Elderia arenivaga]), ‘yuparli’ (bush bananas [Marsdenia australis]), ‘janmarda’ (bush onions [Cyperus bulbosus]), ‘pirlala’ (bush beans [Acacia coriacea seeds]), ‘ngarlajiyi’ (bush carrots [Vigna lanceolata]), ‘wayipi’ (small bush carrots [Boerhavia diffusa]), and ‘yakajirri’ (bush raisins [Solanum centrale]). Women traditionally dug for these foods using wooden ‘karlangu’ (digging sticks). The end of the digging sticks were charred and ground on a stone surface to create a bevelled edge. Today many Warlpiri women use crowbars (also called ‘karlangu’) to dig for bush foods. Collected bush foods are traditionally carried in ‘parraja’ (coolamons), which can be carried with a strap made from the ‘ngalyipi’ (snake vine [Tinospora smilacina]).

In Warlpiri paintings, traditional iconography is used to represent the Jukurrpa and other elements. Concentric circles are often used to represent the bush foods that the women have collected, while straight lines can be used to depict the ‘karlangu’ (digging sticks). Sinuous lines are often used to represent the ‘ngalyipi’ (snake vine).

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Gloria Napangardi Gill

Gloria Napangardi Gill was born in 1975 in Derby, Western Australia. She spent her early years growing up in Balgo, a remote Aboriginal community located in Western Australia, linked with both the Great Sandy Desert and the Tanami Desert and eleven hours by road from Alice Springs.

Lukarrara Jukurrpa (Desert Fringe-rush Seed Dreaming)

This Jukurrpa belongs to women of the Nakamarra/Napurrurla subsections and to Jakamarra/Jupurrurla men. This Dreaming is associated with a place called Jaralypari, north of Yuendumu. Lukarrara (desert fringe-rush [Fimbristylis oxystachya & Fimbristylis eremophila]) is a grass with an edible seed. The seeds are traditionally ground on a large stone (‘ngatinyanu’) with a smaller stone (‘ngalikirri’) to make flour. This flour is mixed with water (‘ngapa’) to make damper cakes which are cooked and eaten. In Warlpiri traditional paintings iconography is used to represent the Jukurrpa, particular sites and other elements. Large concentric circles often represent the site of Jaralypari and also the seed bearing grass Lukurrara. ‘U’ shapes can depict the Karnta (women) collecting ‘lukarrara’ and straight lines are frequently used to portray seeds that fall down to the ground and are also collected by women using their ‘parrajas’ (wooden food carriers) and ‘karlangu’ (digging sticks).

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Kara Napangardi Ross

Kara has lived in Yuendumu her whole life, attending the local school before studying at Yirara College in Alice Springs and then at Kormilda College in Darwin. After finishing school she returned to Yuendumu and married. She has two children a little girl Angie and a boy Terrence.

Pamapardu Jukurrpa (Flying Ant Dreaming)

This painting depicts the Pamapardu Jukurrpa (Flying Ant Dreaming) from Wapurtali, west of Yuendumu. 'Pamapardu' is the Warlpiri name for the flying ants or termites that build the large anthills found throughout Warlpiri country. This country belongs to Nakamarra/Napurrurla women and Jakamarra/Jupurrurla men. 'Pamapardu' are flying ants. They build earth mounds (‘mingkirri’) that are common in the Tanami area. When heavy rains come in summer the ‘mingkirri’ get flooded out, so the ‘pamapardu’ grow wings and fly off to make new homes, following their queens to dry mounds or to build a new. When they have found their new home they drop their wings. In this stage they can be collected, lightly cooked in coals and eaten. As they fall to the ground women collect them to eat because they are nice and sweet. In contemporary Warlpiri paintings traditional iconography is used to represent the Jukurrpa, particular sites and other elements. When this Jukurrpa story is painted concentric circles are used to represent the ‘mingkirri’ and the rockholes involved in the story, including the central one at Wapurtali (Mt Singleton). Dashes are o􀅌en depicted around the circles to represent the ‘pamapardu’.

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Kirsty Anne Napanangka Martin-Brown

Kirsty Anne Napanangka Martin-Brown was born in Alice Springs Hospital, the closest hospital to Nyirripi, a remote Aboriginal community 450km north-west of Alice Springs in the Northern Territory of Australia. She is the daughter of Agnes Nampijinpa Brown and the grand-daughter of Molly Napurrurla Martin, both artists working with the Warlukurlangu Art Centre.

She has one brother and one sister. Kirsty attended school in Nyirripi and in Yuendumu, a remote Aboriginal community 150km south-east of Nyirripi, before going to Kormilda College, an Aboriginal boarding college in Darwin.

When she finished school she returned to Nyirripi where she first worked at the Nyirripi store and then at the Childcare Centre. She has two children.

Kirsty has been painting with Warlukurlangu Artists Aboriginal Corporation, located in Yuendumu, since 2005. Warlukurlangu Artists provides an outlet for Warlpiri artists to paint their cultural heritage and earn income from their work.

Mina Mina Jukurrpa (Mina Mina Dreaming)

This ‘Jukurrpa’ (Dreaming) comes from Mina Mina, a very important women’s Dreaming site far to the west of Yuendumu near Lake Mackay and the WA border. The ‘kirda’ (owners) of this Dreaming are Napangardi/Napanangka women and Japangardi/Japanangka men; the area is sacred to Napangardi and Napanangka women. There are a number of ‘mulju’ (water soakages) and a ‘maluri’ (clay pan) at Mina Mina.

In the Dreamtime, ancestral women danced at Mina Mina and ‘karlangu’ (digging sticks) rose up out of the ground. The women collected the digging sticks and then travelled on to the east, dancing, digging for bush tucker, collecting ‘ngalyipi’ (snake vine [Tinospora smilacina]), and creating many places as they went. ‘Ngalyipi’ is a rope-like creeper that grows up the trunks and limbs of trees, including ‘kurrkara’ (desert oak [Allocasuarina decaisneana]). It is used as a ceremonial wrap and as a strap to carry ‘parraja’ (coolamons) and ‘ngami’ (water carriers). ‘Ngalyipi’ is also used to tie around the forehead to cure headaches, and to bind cuts.

The women stopped at Karntakurlangu, Janyinki, Parapurnta, Kimayi, and Munyuparntiparnti, sites spanning from the west to the east of Yuendumu. When they stopped, the women dug for bush foods like ‘jintiparnta’ (desert truffle [Elderia arenivaga]). The Dreaming track eventually took them far beyond Warlpiri country. The track passed through Coniston in Anmatyerre country to the east, and then went on to Alcoota and Aileron far to the northeast of Yuendumu and eventually on into Queensland.

In Warlpiri paintings, traditional iconography is used to represent the Jukurrpa and other elements. In many paintings of this Jukurrpa, sinuous lines are used to represent the ‘ngalyipi’ (snake vine). Concentric circles are often used to represent the ‘jintiparnta’ (desert truffles) that the women have collected, while straight lines can be used to depict the ‘karlangu’ (digging sticks).

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Emma Nangari Roepcke

Emma Nangari Roepcke was born in Port Augusta SA.

Born to a Pltantjara Ngaanatjarra mother and German Father she struggled to find her identity growing up in a world where she felt she didn’t belong to either culture. Discovering painting by chance a few years ago has slowly helped her to understand her story and her journey across 2 different cultures. She started looking at paintings and Dreamings associated with her family and her country. She then slowly started to look at the country that has shaped her, the patterns and colours of the landscape that has become her home.

Karnta Kurlangu Jukurrpa (Women Dreaming)

Emma Nangari Roepke was born in Port Augusta, South Australia to a PItantjatjara Ngaanatjarra mother and a German father. Emma grew up and went to school in Whyalla but her family regularly travel led to Ntaria (Hermannsburg, Northern Territory) to visit extended family.

Growing up, Emma struggled to find her identity in a world where she felt that she did not belong to either culture; she found it difficult to reconnect with her ancestry, although her family in Ntaria (Hermannsburg), particularly her grandfather made a big effort to teach her traditional culture whenever she visited, she still felt disconnected from the traditions and from her maternal country.

Discovering painting by chance a few years ago has slowly helped her to understand her story and her journey across two different cultures. She started looking at paintings and dreamings associated with her family and her country. Then she slowly started looking at the country that has shaped her, the patterns and the colours of the landscape that has become her home, Alice Springs. Painting has help her to reconnect with her traditional culture and has enlarged her view of who she is in a society where traditions are always changing.

Her paintings are detailed and rich in colour and texture, she studies maps and aerial views of the landscape of her mothers country as well as the country where she lives now (Alice Springs). Emma looks at the seasons changes of colour , the animals and plants that are part of the country that has become her home and with that she has created her own story, a story that is intertwined between different cultures and traditions.

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Sarah Napurrurla Leo

Sarah Napurrurla Leo was born in 1971 on Napperby Station, an area located 122 km north of Alice Springs in the Northern Territory.

Sarah later moved with her parents from the Napperby homestead area to the Laramba Community, 205 km north-west of Alice Springs. The Laramba Community began in 1983 on the Napperby Station Homestead but moved to its present location in 1984. Sarah had a traditional upbringing, spending time with her parents who would take her out bush, around Napperby, showing her sites and teaching her the traditional ways of her country.

Later she lived in Alice Springs where she met her husband who was from Yuendumu NT. Shortly after they were married they moved to Yuendumu where she has lived ever since.

Ngapa Jukurrpa (Water Dreaming)

The site depicted in this painting is Puyurru, west of Yuendumu. In the usually dry creek beds are ‘mulju’ (soakages), or naturally occurring wells. The 'kirda' (owners) for this site are Nangala/Nampijinpa women and Jangala/Jampijinpa men. Two Jangala men, rainmakers, sang the rain, unleashing a giant storm. The storm travelled across the country from the east to the west, initially travelling with a ‘pamapardu Jukurrpa’ (termite Dreaming) from Warntungurru to Warlura, a waterhole 8 miles east of Yuendumu. At Warlura, a gecko called Yumariyumari blew the storm on to Lapurrukurra and Wilpiri. Bolts of lightning shot out at Wirnpa (also called Mardinymardinypa) and at Kanaralji. At this point the Dreaming track also includes the ‘kurdukurdu mangkurdu Jukurrpa’ (children of the clouds Dreaming). The water Dreaming built hills at Ngamangama using baby clouds and also stuck long pointy clouds into the ground at Jukajuka, where they can still be seen today as rock formations.

The termite Dreaming eventually continued west to Nyirripi, a community approximately 160 km west of Yuendumu. The water Dreaming then travelled from the south over Mikanji, a watercourse with soakages northwest of Yuendumu. At Mikanji, the storm was picked up by a ‘kirrkarlanji’ (brown falcon [Falco berigora]) and taken farther north. At Puyurru, the falcon dug up a giant ‘warnayarra’ (rainbow serpent). The serpent carried water with it to create another large lake, Jillyiumpa, close to an outstation in this country. The ‘kirda’ (owners) of this story are Jangala men and Nangala women. A􀅌er stopping at Puyurru, the water Dreaming travelled on through other locations including Yalyarilalku, Mikilyparnta, Katalpi, Lungkardajarra, Jirawarnpa, Kamira, Yurrunjuku, and Jikaya before moving on into Gurindji country to the north.

In contemporary Warlpiri paintings, traditional iconography is used to represent the ‘Jukurrpa’ (Dreaming). Short dashes are o􀅌en used to represent ‘mangkurdu’ (cumulus & stratocumulus clouds), and longer, flowing lines represent ‘ngawarra’ (flood waters). Small circles are used to depict ‘mulju’ (soakages) and river bed.

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Leavannia Nampijinpa Watson

Leavannia was Born in Alice Springs in 1990.

She has grown up in Yuendumu, a remote Aboriginal Community 290klms Northwest of Alice Springs NT.

She is the Grand Daughter of Judy Napangardi Watson a very successful artist who paints with the Warlukurlangu Artists.

Leavannia at a young age started painting on small boards through the WARLU Artists Art Association program held during school holidays.

She has now been painting professionally with the WARLU Art Centre since 2008.

She paints her Fathers Jukurrpa Stories which have been passed down through the generations for Millennia.

Ngapa Jukurrpa (Water Dreaming) - Puyurru

The site depicted in this painting is Puyurru, west of Yuendumu. In the usually dry creek beds are ‘mulju’ (soakages), or naturally occurring wells. The 'kirda' (owners) for this site are Nangala/Nampijinpa women and Jangala/Jampijinpa men. Two Jangala men, rainmakers, sang the rain, unleashing a giant storm. The storm travelled across the country from the east to the west, initially travelling with a ‘pamapardu Jukurrpa’ (termite Dreaming) from Warntungurru to Warlura, a waterhole 8 miles east of Yuendumu. At Warlura, a gecko called Yumariyumari blew the storm on to Lapurrukurra and Wilpiri. Bolts of lightning shot out at Wirnpa (also called Mardinymardinypa) and at Kanaralji. At this point the Dreaming track also includes the ‘kurdukurdu mangkurdu Jukurrpa’ (children of the clouds Dreaming). The water Dreaming built hills at Ngamangama using baby clouds and also stuck long pointy clouds into the ground at Jukajuka, where they can still be seen today as rock formations.

The termite Dreaming eventually continued west to Nyirripi, a community approximately 160 km west of Yuendumu. The water Dreaming then travelled from the south over Mikanji, a watercourse with soakages northwest of Yuendumu. At Mikanji, the storm was picked up by a ‘kirrkarlanji’ (brown falcon [Falco berigora]) and taken farther north. At Puyurru, the falcon dug up a giant ‘warnayarra’ (rainbow serpent). The serpent carried water with it to create another large lake, Jillyiumpa, close to an outstation in this country. The ‘kirda’ (owners) of this story are Jangala men and Nangala women. After stopping at Puyurru, the water Dreaming travelled on through other locations including Yalyarilalku, Mikilyparnta, Katalpi, Lungkardajarra, Jirawarnpa, Kamira, Yurrunjuku, and Jikaya before moving on into Gurindji country to the north.

In contemporary Warlpiri paintings, traditional iconography is used to represent the ‘Jukurrpa’ (Dreaming). Short dashes are often used to represent ‘mangkurdu’ (cumulus & stratocumulus clouds), and longer, flowing lines represent ‘ngawarra’ (flood waters). Small circles are used to depict ‘mulju’ (soakages) and river bed.

Back to the artists