Ormay Nangala Gallagher, Yankirri Jukurrpa (Emu Dreaming) - Ngarlikurlangu, 152x61cm

• Aboriginal Artist - Ormay Nangala Gallagher
• Community - Yuendumu  
• Aboriginal Art Centre - Warlukurlangu Artists Aboriginal Corporation  
• Catalogue number - 6233/19
• Materials - Acrylic on linen  
• Size(cm) - H61 W152 D2  
• Postage variants - Artwork posted un-stretched and rolled for safe shipping
• Orientation - Painted from all sides and OK to hang as wished

This particular site of the Yankirri Jukurrpa, (emu Dreaming [Dromaius novaehollandiae]) is at Ngarlikurlangu, north of Yuendumu. The ‘yankirri’ travelled to the rockhole at Ngarlikurlangu to find water. This Jukurrpa story belongs to Jangala/Jampijinpa men and Nangala/Nampijinpa women. In contemporary Warlpiri paintings traditional iconography is used to represent the Jukurrpa, associated sites and other elements. Emus are usually represented by their ‘wirliya’ (footprints), arrow-like shapes that show them walking around Ngarlikurlangu eating ‘yakajirri’ (bush raisin [Solanum centrale]). In the time of the Jukurrpa there was a fight at Ngarlikiurlangu between a ‘yankirri’ ancestor and Wardilyka (Australian bustard [Ardeotis australis]) ancestors over sharing the ‘yakajirri’. There is also a dance for this Jukurrpa that is performed during initiation ceremonies.

"I like painting my father's and mother's Jukurrpa, it makes me feel proud and happy." Ormay Nangala Gallagher was born in Alice Springs hospital, the closest hospital to Yuendumu, a remote Aboriginal community 290 km from Alice Springs in the NT of Australia. Her upbringing was mainly in Yuendumu where she attended the local Yuendumu School. In 1978 she attended Yirara College, an Aboriginal boarding school in Alice Springs and between 1978 -1979 she attended Sadadeen College. She then moved to Nyirripi where she worked at the Nyirripi store from 1986 to 1994. Between 1995 and 2004 she worked at Nyirripi School as a teacher. She did her teachers training through Batchelor College. Ormay is married and has two children. She likes listening to country music, going bush hunting, enjoys watching TV, meeting friends and going on holidays around Australia. “I started painting in the 1980’s and I am still painting today. I do dot painting and the dreaming that I paint is about Emu and Water, that dreaming is at Mikanji and that is my fathers dreaming. I also paint Pama-pardu and Emu, that dreaming is North of Nyirrripi at a place call Waylka and Wantungurru, which is also another of my fathers dreaming.” Ormay travelled to Bahrain in 2008 and Delhi, India in 2009 with Warlukurlangu Artists.