Lucky Nampijinpa Langdon, Watiya-warnu Jukurrpa (Seed Dreaming), 46x46cm

• Artist - Lucky Nampijinpa Langdon
• Community - Nyirripi
• Art Centre/Community organisation - Warlukurlangu Artists Aboriginal Corporation
• Catalogue number - 913/15
• Materials - Acrylic on canvas
• Size(cm) - H46 W46 D2 
• Postage variants - Artwork posted un-stretched and rolled for safe shipping
• Orientation - Painted from all sides and OK to hang as wished

This painting tells the story of a Jangala ‘watiya-warnu’ (Acacia tenuissima) ancestor who travelled south from a small hill called Ngurlupurranyangu to Yamunturrngu (Mount Liebig). As he travelled he picked the ‘watiya-warnu’ seeds and placed them in ‘parrajas’ (food carriers), one of which he carried on his head. Watiya-warnu is a seed bearing tree that grows in open spinifex or mulga country. When people returned to their camp after collecting the seeds they would make large windbreaks for shelter and winnow the seed in the late afternoon. Immature ‘watiya-warnu’ seed is ground into a paste and can be used to treat upset stomachs. The associated ‘watiya-warnu’ ceremony involves the preparation of a large ground painting. This Jukurrpa belongs to Nampijinpa/Nangala women and Jampijinpa/Jangala men. In contemporary Warlpiri paintings traditional iconography is used to represent the Jukurrpa, particular sites and other elements. In paintings of this Dreaming ‘U’ shapes are often depicting women collecting the ‘watiya-warnu’ seeds. Oval shapes represent the ‘parrajas’ where they carry the seeds and strait lines beside them frequently portrait digging sticks.

Lucky Nampijinpa Langdon was born in 1946 in the bush close to Yuendumu, an Aboriginal settlement located 290 kms north-west of Alice Springs in the central desert of Australia. The settlement was in established in 1946, a Baptist mission was established there in 1947 and by 1955 many of the Warlpiri people had settled in the community. Lucky has lived there for most of her life and when she was little attended the local mission school as well as travelling around the country with her parents and learning about the sites in the traditional way. Lucky has been painting with Warlukurlangu Artists Aboriginal Corporation, the local Aboriginal owned and governed art centre since 1987. She paints her Jukurrpa stories, Dreamings that have been passed down to her by her ancestors, stories that relate directly to her traditional country, its features and the plants and animals that inhabit the land. Like most of the local women she still enjoys travelling across her country and regularly goes out hunting and collecting traditional foods.