Janelle Napurrurla Wilson, Janganpa Jukurrpa (Brush-tail Possum Dreaming)- Mawurrji, 61x61cm

• Artist - Janelle Napurrurla Wilson
• Community - Yuendumu
• Art Centre/Community organisation - Warlukurlangu Artists Aboriginal Corporation
• Catalogue number - 5240/16
• Materials - Acrylic on linen
• Size(cm) - H61 W61 D2
• Postage variants - This work is posted un-stretched and rolled for safe shipping

Janganpa Jukurrpa (common brush-tail possum [Trichosurus vulpecula] Dreaming) travels all over Warlpiri country. ‘Janganpa’ are nocturnal animals that often nest in the hollows of white gum trees (‘wapunungka’). This story comes from a big hill called Mawurrji, west of Yuendumu and north of Pikilyi (Vaughan Springs). A group of ‘janganpa’ ancestors resided there. Every night they would go out in search of food. Their hunting trips took them to Wirlki and Wanapirdi, where they found ‘pamapardu’ (flying ants). They journeyed on to Ngarlkirdipini looking for water. A Nampijinpa women was living at Mawurrji with her two daughters. She gave her daughters in marriage to a Jupurrurla ‘janganpa’ but later decided to run away with them. The Jupurrurla angrily pursued the woman. He tracked them to Mawurrji where he killed them with a stone axe. Their bodies are now rocks at this place. Warlpiri people perform a young men’s initiation ceremony, which involves the Janganpa Jukurrpa. The Janganpa Jukurrpa belongs to Jakamarra/Jupurrurla men and Nakamarra/Napurrurla women. In Warlpiri paintings traditional iconography is used to represent this Jukurrpa. ‘Janganpa’ tracks are often represented as 'E' shaped figures and concentric circles are used to depict the trees in which the ‘janganpa’ live, and also the sites at Mawurrji.

Janelle Napurrurla Wilson was born in 1985 in Alice Springs Hospital, the closest hospital to Yuendumu, a remote Aboriginal community located 290 km north-west of Alice Springs in the NT of Australia. She attended the local school, graduating in 2000. When she finished school she worked in Reception at the Yuendumu Health Clinic. She now has casual work with the New Future Alliance (NFA), an organisation who is training local men to work on refurbishing the older houses in the community and assisting the tradesmen to build new homes. Local people are also employed to clean and cook. Janelle has an older sister living in Adelaide and an older brother living in Darwin. Janelle is married and has always lived in Yuendumu.

Janelle has been painting for Warlukurlangu Artists Aboriginal Corporation; an Aboriginal owned and governed Art Centre, since 2012. “When I was young I use to come around to the Art Centre with my Mum and Aunty and watch them paint and I use to paint too.” She paints her Mother’s Father’s (Grandfather) Jukurrpa (Dreaming), Janganpa Jukurrpa (Brush-tail Possum Dreaming ) and her Mother’s Jukurrpa,Karnta Jukurrpa (Women’s Dreaming). These stories relate directly to the land, its features and the plants and animals that inhabit it. They were passed down to her Grandfather by his father and his father’s father before him for millennia. Janelle uses traditional designs and icons with an unrestricted palette to develop a modern interpretation of her traditional culture.

Simone uses traditional designs and icons with an unrestricted palette to develop a modern interpretation of her traditional culture.

When Janelle is not working or painting she likes to go hunting for honey ants on the weekends with her mother and family.

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