Senana Napurrurla Walker, Pirlarla Jukurrpa (Dogwood Tree Bean Dreaming), 30x30cm

• Aboriginal Artist - Senana Napurrurla Walker
• Community - Yuendumu
• Aboriginal Art Centre - Warlukurlangu Artists Aboriginal Corporation
• Catalogue number - 1457/23
• Materials - Acrylic paint on pre-stretched canvas
• Size(cm) - H30 W30 D3.5
• Postage variants - This work is posted stretched and ready to hang
• Orientation - Painted from all sides and OK to hang as wished

This story of the Pirlarla Jukurrpa (dogwood tree bean Dreaming) comes from the country near to the Yiningnarra range, south of Rabbit Flat and several hundred kilometers to the north-west of Yuendumu. This Jukurrpa travels west and begins near Yumurrpa. There, women of the Napurrula/Nakamarra subsection travelled and collected the ‘pirlarla’ (seeds and pods) of the ‘wakirlpirri’ (dogwood [Acacia coriacea]) tree, a valuable and highly prized food source. In the hot summer time the ‘pirlarla’ seed pods are collected, burnt in a fire and then cracked open. The seeds inside the pods are then ground up and make a good food. The juice from the seeds is also edible. In Warlpiri paintings traditional iconography is used to represent the Jukurrpa and other elements. In paintings of this Jukurrpa the representative designs that are painted onto women's bodies during their Yawulyu ceremonies are often shown. The custodians of the Pirlarla Jukurrpa are Jakamarra/Jupurrurla men and Nakamarra/Napurrurla women.

Senana Napurrurla Walker was born in 1997 in Alice Springs Hospital, the closest hospital to Yuendumu, a remote Aboriginal community 290 km north-west of Alice Springs in the NT of Australia. She grew up in Yuendumu, first attending the local school then completing her secondary school education in Alice Springs. She is the granddaughter of Liddy Napanangka Walker (Dec 2017), a well-known and established artist who began painting on canvas when Warlukurlangu Artists Aboriginal Corporation, was established in 1985. Senana's grandmother became one of the Art Centre’s most important members.

Senana began painting with Warlukurlangu Artists Aboriginal Corporation, an Aboriginal owned and governed art centre located in Yuendumu, in 2017. She paints her Pirlarla Jukurrpa (Dogwood Tree Bean Dreaming), Dreamings which relate directly to her land, its features and the plants and animals that inhabit it. These stories were passed down to her by her parents and grandparents and their parents before them for millennia. Senana learnt to paint by watching her grandmother and family members paint. She loves colour and uses an unrestricted palette to depict her traditional iconography, at the same time developing a modern individualist style, using pattern and design in a variety of contexts.

When Senana is not painting, she spends time with her family and friends at home and at community activities.