Bridget Napangardi Williams, Ngalyipi Jukurrpa (Snake Vine Dreaming) - Purturlu, 30x30cm

• Aboriginal Artist - Bridget Napangardi Williams
• Community - Nyirripi  
• Aboriginal Art Centre - Warlukurlangu Artists Aboriginal Corporation  
• Catalogue number - 2377/19ny
• Materials - Acrylic on pre-stretched canvas  
• Size(cm) - H30 W30 D3.5  
• Postage variants - Artwork posted stretched and ready to hang
• Orientation - Painted from all sides and OK to hang as wished

The country associated with this ‘ngalyipi Jukurrpa’ (snakevine [Tinospora smilacina] Dreaming) is located at Purturlu (Mt. Theo), north of Yuendumu. The ‘kirda’ (owners) of this Dreaming are Napanangka/Napangardi women and Japanangka/Japangardi men. The ‘kurdungurlu’ (custodians) for this Dreaming are Nangala/Nakamarra women and Jangala/Jakamarra men.

‘Ngalyipi’ (snakevine) is a green creeper that climbs up the trunks and branches of trees and shrubs. The plant is found on sandy spinifex plains and sandhills. ‘Ngalyipi’ is frequently depicted in paintings due to its many uses and its great ceremonial importance. The vine can be used as a shoulder strap to carry ‘parraja’ (coolamons) and ‘ngami’ (water carriers). The plant also has medicinal uses; its vines are used as tourniquets, and its leaves and vines are used as bandages for wounds. Warlpiri sometimes also chew the leaves to treat severe colds. ‘Ngalyipi’ stems can be pounded between stones and tied around the forehead to cure headaches. In men’s initiation, ‘ngalyipi’ is used to tie the ‘witi’ (ceremonial poles) to the shins of the dancing initiates, and to tie ‘yukurruyukurru’ (dancing boards) to dancers’ bodies. The initiation ceremonies associated with the ‘ngalyipi’ Dreaming at Purturlu are for the sons and grandsons of Japanangka and Japangardi men. Napanangka and Napangardi women dance at these ceremonies, and then look away and block their ears when the men dance. This ‘witi’ ceremony is performed at night under the stars.

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). Straight lines are used to represent the ‘witi’ (ceremonial poles) and ‘karlangu’ (digging sticks).

Bridget Napangardi Williams was born in 1960 in Alice Springs Hospital, the closest hospital to Yuendumu, a remote Aboriginal community 290 km north-west of Alice Springs in the Northern Territory of Australia. She has two sisters, Gayle Napangardi Gibson and Deborah Napangaardi Williams, also artists from Warlukurlangu Art Centre. Bridget is married to Walala Japaljarri and has one daughter Clarissa. Bridget attended the local school in Yuendumu before attending Yirara College, an Aboriginal boarding school located in Alice Springs. When she finished schooling she returned to Yuendumu. In the late 1980s Bridget moved to Nyirripi, an outstation a further 150 km north-west of Yuendumu. Bridget painted intermittently between 1989 and 2008, probably due to lack of canvas and paint, but since 2009 has been painting consistently with Warlukurlangu Artists Aboriginal Corporation, an Aboriginal owned and governed art centre located in Yuendumu. Warlukurlangu recognized the need to service the community and since 2005 has visited Nyirripi, usually on a weekly basis to drop off canvas, brushes and paint and pick up completed artwork. Bridget learnt to paint by watching her parents and her big sister, who have all passed away, paint. “I like painting my dreaming.” She paints her father’s Jukurrpa stories, Dreaming 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 father and his father’s father before him for millennia. Bridget likes living in Nyirripi, “it is a good place to live.” She likes going bush and hunting for goanna, emu, bush turkey and kangaroo.