Julie Nangala Robertson, Mina Mina Jukurrpa (Mina Mina Dreaming) - Ngalyipi, 30x30cm

• Artist - Julie Nangala Robertson
• Community - Yuendumu  
• Art Centre/Community organisation - Warlukurlangu Artists Aboriginal Corporation  
• Catalogue number - 4460/16
• Materials - Acrylic on pre-stretched canvas  
• Size(cm) - H30 W30 D3.5  
• Postage variants - Artwork posted stretched and ready to hang.

This ‘Jukurrpa’ (Dreaming) comes from Mina Mina, a very important women’s Dreaming site far to the west of Yuendumu near Lake Mackay and the WA border. The ‘kirda’ (owners) of this Dreaming are Napangardi/Napanangka women and Japangardi/Japanangka men; the area is sacred to Napangardi and Napanangka women. There are a number of ‘mulju’ (water soakages) and a ‘maluri’ (clay pan) at Mina Mina.

In the Dreamtime, ancestral women danced at Mina Mina and ‘karlangu’ (digging sticks) rose up out of the ground. The women collected the digging sticks and then travelled on to the east, dancing, digging for bush tucker, collecting ‘ngalyipi’ (snake vine [Tinospora smilacina]), and creating many places as they went. ‘Ngalyipi’ is a rope-like creeper that grows up the trunks and limbs of trees, including ‘kurrkara’ (desert oak [Allocasuarina decaisneana]). It is used as a ceremonial wrap and as a strap to carry ‘parraja’ (coolamons) and ‘ngami’ (water carriers). ‘Ngalyipi’ is also used to tie around the forehead to cure headaches, and to bind cuts.

The women stopped at Karntakurlangu, Janyinki, Parapurnta, Kimayi, and Munyuparntiparnti, sites spanning from the west to the east of Yuendumu. When they stopped, the women dug for bush foods like ‘jintiparnta’ (desert truffle [Elderia arenivaga]). The Dreaming track eventually took them far beyond Warlpiri country. The track passed through Coniston in Anmatyerre country to the east, and then went on to Alcoota and Aileron far to the northeast of Yuendumu and eventually on into Queensland.

In Warlpiri paintings, traditional iconography is used to represent the Jukurrpa and other elements. In many paintings of this Jukurrpa, sinuous lines are used to represent the ‘ngalyipi’ (snake vine). Concentric circles are often used to represent the ‘jintiparnta’ (desert truffles) that the women have collected, while straight lines can be used to depict the ‘karlangu’ (digging sticks).

Julie Nangala Robertson is one of five daughters born in Yuendumu in 1973 to well-known Telstra Award winning artist, Dorothy Napangardi (Dec 2013). Since the late 1990's, while often in the company of her talented mother, Julie has pursued and developed a creative visual language of her own, one which consists of a fascinating blend of stylised experimentation and ancient narrative.

Usually an aerial perspective along with a more recently and established distinctive monochromatic pallette, Julie's current paintings (which depict the topographical features of her traditional country at the site of Pirlinyanu) have become works of extraordinary optical brilliance as she alternates the size of dots throughout her work as well as building up specific shapes or reference points often repeated with overdotting.

Julie has been painting with Warlukurlangu Artists Aboriginal Corporation, an Aboriginal owned and governed art centre located in Yuendumu, since 2007. She paints her mother’s Jukurrpa stories, stories that have been passed down to her by her mother and all the mothers before them for millennia. Her work has been included in numerous collections and exhibitions of Aboriginal Art in both Australia and overseas.