Marshall Jangala Robertson, Watiya-warnu Jukurrpa (Seed Dreaming), 122x91cm

• Aboriginal Artist - Marshall Jangala Robertson
• Community - Yuendumu
• Aboriginal Art Centre - Warlukurlangu Artists Aboriginal Corporation
• Catalogue number - 3973/19
• Materials - Acrylic on linen 
• Size(cm) - H122 W91 D2 
• Postage variants - Artwork is posted un-stretched and rolled for safe shipping
• Orientation - Painted from all sides and OK to hang as wished

The site depicted in this painting is Puyurru, west of Yuendumu. In the usually dry creek beds are ‘mulju’ (soakages), or naturally occurring wells. The 'kirda' (owners) for this site are Nangala/Nampijinpa women and Jangala/Jampijinpa men. Two Jangala men, rainmakers, sang the rain, unleashing a giant storm. The storm travelled across the country from the east to the west, initially travelling with a ‘pamapardu Jukurrpa’ (termite Dreaming) from Warntungurru to Warlura, a waterhole 8 miles east of Yuendumu. At Warlura, a gecko called Yumariyumari blew the storm on to Lapurrukurra and Wilpiri. Bolts of lightning shot out at Wirnpa (also called Mardinymardinypa) and at Kanaralji. At this point the Dreaming track also includes the ‘kurdukurdu mangkurdu Jukurrpa’ (children of the clouds Dreaming). The water Dreaming built hills at Ngamangama using baby clouds and also stuck long pointy clouds into the ground at Jukajuka, where they can still be seen today as rock formations.

Marshall Jangala Robertson was born in 1974 in Darwin, the closest hospital to Lajamanu, an Aboriginal community in semi-arid country on the edge of the Tanami Desert, halfway between Darwin and Alice Springs. He was raised in Lajamanu with his seven sisters and attended the local Lajamanu school and later Yirara College, an Aboriginal boarding college in Alice Springs. When he left school, at the end of Year 9, he returned to Lajamanu working in a variety of trades for the CDEP. He later moved to Yuendumu, his parents’ country.

Marshall was born into a family of established artists—his Dad, Jimmy Jampijinpa Robertson was a founding member of the Waniyaka Art Centre at Lajamanu and his Mum, Denise Napangardi Tasman, was also a well-known artist. Marshall watched and painted with his family and on visits to his parents’ country would be told his Jukurrpa stories. When Marshall moved to Yuendumu in 2010 he began painting with Warlukurlangu Artists Aboriginal Corporation, an Aboriginal owned and governed art centre located in Yuendumu, a remote Aboriginal community, 290 kms north-west of Alice Springs. Although he lives in Adelaide he visits often. He paints his Grandfather’s and Dad’s Jukurrpa: Ngapa Jukurrpa (Water Dreaming); Watiya-Warna Jukurrpa (Seed Dreaming) and Warna Jukurrpa (Snake Dreaming). Dreamings which relate directly to his land, its features and the plants and animals that inhabit it. He began using traditional iconography but has developed an individualistic style using pattern in a variety of contexts to depict his traditional Jukurrpa. He enjoys painting because it links him to his country and his culture.

Marshall is married to Justinna Napaljarri Sims and between them they have two girls and two boys. When Marshall is not painting, he enjoys going bush, hunting for goannas or travelling to Adelaide with his family, catching up with relatives and friends.