Freda Napaljarri Jurrah, Ngalyipi Jukurrpa (Snake Vine Dreaming) - Yanjirlpiri,122x46cm

• Aboriginal Artist - Freda Napaljarri Jurrah
• Community - Nyirripi
• Aboriginal Art Centre - Warlukurlangu Artists Aboriginal Corporation
• Catalogue number - 1216/18ny
• Materials - Acrylic on linen
• Size(cm) - H46 W122 D2
• Postage variants - This work is posted un-stretched and rolled for safe shipping
• Orientation - Painted from all sides and OK to hang as wished

Japaljarri/Jungarrayi men and Napaljarri/Nungarrayi women are the ‘kirda’ (custodians) of the Ngalyipi Jukurrpa (snake vine [Tinospora smilacina]). The country associated with this Jukurrpa is at Yanjirlpiri (Mt. Nicker) to the west of Yuendumu. ‘Ngalyipi’ is a green creeper which curls its tendrils around the trunks and branches of trees and has many uses. Traditionally it was used as a strap to carry ‘parraja’ (wooden food carrying dishes), as a cure for headaches (it was wrapped very tightly around the head), as a rope and as a ceremonial wrap during the ‘witi’ ceremony for the initiation of the sons and grandsons of the Japaljarri and Jungarrayi men. ‘Ngalypi’ was also used to tie ‘witi’ (ceremonial) poles to the legs of the young initiates. The women danced and sang at the ceremony and then had to look away and block their ears when the men danced.

The ‘witi’ ceremony happened at night under the stars.

Freda Napaljarri Jurrah was born in 1956 at Mt Denison, a station located 332 km north-west of Alice Springs in the NT of Australia. When she was little she moved with her family to Yuendumu, a remote Aboriginal community 290 km north-west of Alice Springs. She attended the local school and later married. She has no children.

Freda has been painting with Warlukurlangu Artists Aboriginal Corporation, an Aboriginal owned and governed art centre located in Yuendumu, since 1992 but did not have much time in the early years until 2004 when she began to paint consistently with the art centre. She paints her Grandfather’s Jukurrpa stories, Dreamings which relate directly to her land, its features and the plants and animals that inhabit it. These stories have been passed down over many generations for millennia.