Mary Anne Nampijinpa Michaels, Lappi Lappi Jukurrpa, 107x76cm

• Artist - Mary Anne Nampijinpa Michaels
• Community - Nyirripi  
• Art Centre/Community organisation - Warlukurlangu Artists Aboriginal Corporation  
• Catalogue number - 48/10ny   
• Materials - Acrylic on linen  
• Size(cm) - H107 W76 D2  
• Postage variants - Artwork posted un-stretched and rolled for safe shipping

The subject of this work is Lappi Lappi, a rock hole near Lake Hazlett, about 90 km northwest of Lake Mackay in Western Australia. The country belongs to Nampijinpa/Jampijinpa and Nangala/Jangala skin groups. Located in a sheltered basin, the rock hole at Lappi Lappi is a permanent source of water, and is surrounded by country rich in bush tucker. In the time of the Jukurrpa (Dreamtime) many mothers with young children would gather there because it was a safe place to stay. The rock hole at Lappi Lappi is home to a ‘warnayarra’, a rainbow serpent that travels underground between various rock holes. One day, women were gathered at the rock hole with their children, singing and dancing. When the ‘warnayarra’ heard the sound of voices, it travelled silently towards them, under the water. When it reached the edge of the rock hole, it rose out of the water and ate them all.

Mary Anne Nampijinpa Michaels was born in 1935, in the bush near Lappi Lappi Rock, an area located on Mount Doreen Station, an extensive cattle breeding station in NT of Australia. Mount Doreen is located between Yuendumu, a remote Aboriginal community 290 km north-west of Alice Springs and Nyirripi, 160 km north-west of Yuendumu. Mary Anne received a traditional Aboriginal education, that is, going bush with her parents and learning all about her country, its creation stories, its features and the flora and fauna that habited the land. She had four children, one son and three daughters, who also live in Nyirripi. Mary Anne had many grandchildren. Mary Anne painted with Warlukurlangu Artists Aboriginal Corporation, from 2005 - 2012. Warlukurlangu Artists is an Aboriginal owned and governed art centre located in Yuendumu, and has been providing the residents of Nyirripi with materials to paint since 2005. Mary Anne painted her Father’s Jukurrpa stories, Dreamings relating directly to Lappi Lappi, her land, its features and the plants and animals that inhabit it. These stories were passed down to her by her father and mother and their parents before them for millennia. Her work was been included in numerous exhibitions of Aboriginal Art both nationally and internationally. When not painting or telling her stories to her grandchildren Mary Anne spend a lot of her time hunting. She died in September 2012

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