Freda Napaljarri Jurrah, Witi Jukurrpa (Ceremonial Pole Dreaming) - Jirla, 61x46cm

• Artist - Freda Napaljarri Jurrah
• Community - Nyirripi
• Art Centre/Community organisation - Warlukurlangu Artists Aboriginal Corporation
• Catalogue number - 688/17
• Materials - Acrylic on canvas
• Size(cm) - H61 W46 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

This painting depicts ‘witi Jukurrpa’ (ceremonial pole Dreaming). The ‘kirda’ (owners) for this Dreaming are Jungarrayi/Japaljarri men and Nungarrayi/Napaljarri women. ‘Witi’ are 10-12 foot long ceremonial poles with ‘ngapiri’ (red river gum [Eucalyptus camaldulensis]) and ‘wurrkali’ (desert bloodwood [Corymbia opaca]) leaves tied to them from top to bottom. The young men dance with the ‘witi’ tied to their shins using ‘ngalyipi’ (snakevine [Tinospora smilacina]). They dance up and down with slightly bent knees, causing the poles to shake and sway and make noises that scare away spirits.

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.