Reanne Nampijinpa Brown, Warna Jukurrpa (Snake Dreaming), 30x30cm

• Aboriginal Artist - Reanne Nampijinpa Brown
• Community - Yuendumu  
• Aboriginal Art Centre - Warlukurlangu Artists Aboriginal Corporation  
• Catalogue number - 1767/22
• Materials - Acrylic on pre-stretched canvas
• Size(cm) - H30 W30 D2  
• Postage variants - Artwork stretched and ready to hang
• Orientation - Painted from all sides and OK to hang as wished

The place depicted in this painting, Ngama, is located south of Yuendumu in the Northern Territory. This Dreaming belongs to Nakamarra/Napurrurla women and Jakamarra/Jupurrurla men. This story describes the journey of Yarripiri, an ancestral ‘warna’ (snake). He travelled from Wirnparrku near Mt. Liebig to Yimparlu, and continued its way through the territories of Ngapanangka-jarra, Warlajirryi, Kurnmundu, Yinyirrinyi on to Ngama. Later Yarripiri travelled further north via Mijirlparnta (Mission Creek) and right through to the top end of Australia.Yarripiri was very sad as his family had left him behind at Wirnparrku. He was blind and crippled but he was determined to follow and search them out. He had to be carried. This was the job undertaken by the ‘kurdungurlu’ (ceremonial police) of the Dreaming: the Nangala/Nampijinpa women and Jangala/Jampijinpa men. Where Yarripiri's tail slumped and touched the ground creeks were formed, such as Mijirlparnta, west of Yuendumu. Yarripiri tracks and paths are often represented by arc shapes or curved lines depicted across the canvas.

Reanne Nampijinpa Brown was born in 1989 in the Alice Springs Hospital, the closest hospital to Yuendumu, a remote Aboriginal community 290 km north-west of Alice Springs in the NT of Australia. She has lived in Yuendumu all her life, attending the local school. Reanne is married and has one little boy Jacob. She first painted for Warlukurlangu Artists Aboriginal Corporation, an Aboriginal owned and governed art centre in Yuendumu, in 2002, when she was thirteen. Warlukurlangu Artists provides an outlet for Warlpiri artists to paint their cultural heritage and earn income from their work. Reanne paints Ngapa Jukurrpa (Water Dreaming) and Pamapardu Jukurrpa (Flying Ant Dreaming) that she has inherited from her father and grandfather's side. These Dreamings relate directly to her land, its features and the plants and animals that inhabit it. Her first endeavour into printmaking at Warlukurlangu was in 2006 where she produced her first etching. As a young artist, Reanne enjoys painting for the arts centre and has a promising career ahead.