Patrick Japangardi Williams, Mina Mina Jukurrpa (Mina Mina Dreaming) - Ngalyipi, 182x61cm

• Aboriginal Artist - Patrick Japangardi Williams
• Community - Nyirripi  
• Aboriginal Art centre - Warlukurlangu Artists Aboriginal Corporation  
• Catalogue number - 1398/19ny 
• Materials - Acrylic on linen 
• Size(cm) - H61 W182 D2  
• Postage variants - Artwork posted un-stretched and rolled for safe shipping
• Orientation painted from all sides and OK to hang as wished

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).

Patrick Japangardi Williams was born in Yuendumu, a remote Aboriginal community 290 km north-west of Alice Springs in the NT of Australia. Both his mum and dad have since passed away. He has three sisters and one brother, Lindsay Japangardi Williams. He is the grandson of Gayle Napangardi Gibson, an established painter of Warlukurlangu Artists. Patrick grew up in Yuendumu and attended Yirara College, an Aboriginal boarding college in Alice Springs. When he finished school after completing Year 11 he went looking for jobs and was employed in the Shire Housing Project. In 1996 he moved away and is now living in Nyirripi, originally an outstation of Yuendumu but now a small community, 120 km south west of Yuendumu. He is married to Christine Nakamarra Curtis and has 2 children.                                                  

Patrick began painting with Warlukurlangu Artists Aboriginal Corporation, an Aboriginal owned and governed art centre located in Yuendumu in 2012 after “watching my wife . . . it makes me happy painting”. He paints his grandfather’s Ngapa Jukurrpa (Water Dreaming) and his father’s Mina MinaJukurrpa. Stories which relate directly to his land, its features and the plants and animals that inhabit it. 

When he is not painting, he plays football and hunting for goanna.