Dorothy Napurrurla Dickson, Ngurlu Jukurrpa (Native Seed Dreaming), 30x30cm

• Aboriginal Artist - Dorothy Napurrurla Dickson
• Community - Yuendumu/Alice Springs
• Aboriginal Art Centre - Warlukurlangu Artists Aboriginal Corporation  
• Catalogue number - 5710/23
• 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

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).

Dorothy Napurrurla Dickson was born in 1965 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 with her grandmother and her siblings. Dorothy attended the local school before going to Yirara College, an Aboriginal boarding college in Alice Springs. After graduation Dorothy returned to Yuendumu and worked at the Outback Store.

Dorothy Napurrurla has been painting with Warlukurlangu Artists Aboriginal Corporation, an Aboriginal owned and governed art centre located in Yuendumu, since 2010.  She paints her father’s and Grandpa’s Lukarrara Jukurrpa (Desert Fringe-rush Seed Dreaming), stories that relate directly to her land, its features and the plants and animals that inhabit it. These stories were passed down to her by her family and their ancestors before them for millennia. As an artist, Dorothy likes painting her ngurlu (bushseed).           

When Dorothy is not painting, she enjoys spending time with her three grown-up children and hunting for Ngarlkirdi (Witchetty Grubs) and Yurrampi (Honey Ants) with her friends.