Clarise Nampijinpa Poulson, Nguru Yurntumu-wana (Country around Yuendumu), 107x107cm

• Aboriginal Artist - Clarise Nampijinpa Poulson
• Community - Yuendumu  
• Aboriginal Art Centre - Warlukurlangu Artists Aboriginal Corporation  
• Catalogue number - 5258/21
• Materials - Acrylic on linen
• Size(cm) - H107 W107 D2
• Postage variants - Artwork posted un-stretched and rolled for safe shipping
• Orientation - Painted from all sides and OK to hang as wished

This painting depicts the natural landscape around Yuendumu. The bush around Yuendumu features plenty of ‘watiya’ (trees), ‘marna’ (grass), ‘kuyu’ (animals) to hunt, and ‘miyi’ (edible plants) to gather.

There are a number of beautiful natural features close to Yuendumu, including rocky hills, creeks, soakages, and waterholes. There are also a number of small outstations around Yuendumu. These include Yuwali (Bean Tree), Wakurlpa, Purturlu (Mt. Theo), Jirla (Chilla Well), Yarripirlangu, Wayililinpa, and many more.

There are many sites around Yuendumu that are associated with different ‘Jukurrpa’ (Dreamings). These sites include a major ‘yunkaranyi Jukurrpa’ (honey ant Dreaming), which travels from the west to the east. Yuendumu is sometimes also called ‘yurrampi’ (honey ant) for this reason.

A very big ‘ngapa Jukurrpa’ (water Dreaming) travels past Yuendumu from the south far to the north. This Jukurrpa stops at Warlura, a waterhole 8 miles east of Yuendumu, and at Jukajuka, an important rock formation. ‘Warlukurlangu Jukurrpa’ (fire country Dreaming) lies to the west of Yuendumu, on the way to Nyirrpi. You can see the ‘warlu’ (fire) in the form of hundreds of red ‘mingkirri’ (termite mounds) that rise out of the ground in this area.

Other Jukurrpa around Yuendumu include a ‘janganpa Jukurrpa’ (brush-tailed possum [Tricosurus vulpecula] Dreaming) associated with the hills to the north, and a ‘yankirri Jukurrpa’ (emu [Dromaius novaehollandiae ] Dreaming) associated with Ngarlikirlangu, a rock formation to the north. A ‘warlawurru Jukurrpa’ (wedge-tailed eagle [Aquila audax] Dreaming) is associated with the Wakurlpa outstation and hills. A very big ‘warna Jukurrpa’ (snake Dreaming) passes through Mijirlparnta (Mission Creek), west of Yuendumu. This Jukurrpa tells the story of a blind and crippled python, Yarripiri, who was carried by the ‘kurdungurlu’ (custodians) of the Jukurrpa from the south to the far north. This Jukurrpa is associated with the important Jardiwarnpa conflict resolution ceremony.

All the sites around Yuendumu are owned and cared for by different skin subsections and are associated with different Jukurrpa. Some people are ‘kirda’ (owners) of the Jukurrpa, and others are ‘kurdungurlu’ (custodians).

In Warlpiri paintings, traditional iconography can be used to represent the landscape around the area, the Jukurrpa, and other elements. Paintings of Jukurrpa around Yuendumu can include emu tracks, possum tracks, or eagle tracks. Wavy lines are frequently used to represent water or fire, and concentric circles can represent waterholes or camps.

Clarise Nampijinpa Poulson was born in 1957 in Yuendumu, a remote Aboriginal community 290 km north-west of Alice Springs in the NT of Australia. A Warlpiri speaker, Clarise lives and work in Yuendumu . Her country is Wantungurru, and she paints her father’s Jukurrpa, Dreamings which include Yankirri (Emu Dreaming), Ngapa (Water Dreaming) and Pamapardu (Flying Ant Dreaming). These stories were handed down to her by her father and his father’s father for millennia. Clarise Nampijinpa first painted for Warlukurlangu Artists Aboriginal Corporation, an Aboriginal owned and governed art centre in Yuendumu, in 1988, and her first solo work was shown in the ANCAA exhibition in Darwin in September 1988. She quickly distinguished herself as an outstanding artist, daring in her use of intense colour and detailed, hard -edged designs with optical gyrations. Clarice is a meticulous painter, able to vary size of dots and design elements so that each composition is individualistic. Clarise has participated in many important surveys of Aboriginal art, notable Mythscapes: Aboriginal Art of the Desert, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, 1989, Balance 1990, Views Visions and Influences, Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane, 1990, L'ete Australien Montpellier, Musee favre, France 1990 and the Aboriginal Women's Exhibition, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 1991. In 1992, she had her first solo exhibition at Hogarth Gallery in Sydney. In 1993, Clarise was awarded a Creative Arts Fellowship. She is a widow but when married she sometimes painted with her husband, Michael Japangardi Poulson (Dec). Her brother in law Neville Cobra” Japangardi Poulson is also a painter at Warlukurlangu Artists. Clarise is a very strong Baptist. Yuedumu community where she lives was originally a Baptist Mission. Clarisse has painted the stations of the cross for the local church in traditional iconography.