Rosena Napaljarri Dickson, Wanakiji Jukurrpa (Bush Tomato Dreaming), 30x30cm

• Aboriginal Artist - Rosena Napaljarri Dickson
• Community - Yuendumu
• Aboriginal Art Centre - Warlukurlangu Artists Aboriginal Corporation
• Catalogue number - 1059/20
• Materials - Acrylic on pre stretched canvas 
• Size(cm) - H30 W30 D3.5
• Postage variants - This work is posted stretched ready to hang
• Orientation - Painted from all sides and OK to hang as wished

The Wanakiji Jukurrpa (bush tomato [Solanum chippendalei] Dreaming) travels through Yaturlu (near Mount Theo, north of Yuendumu). “Wanakiji” grows in open spinifex country and is a small, prickly plant with purple flowers that bears green fleshy fruit with many small black seeds. After collecting the fruit the seeds are removed with a small wooden spoon called ‘kajalarra’. The fruit then can be eaten raw or threaded onto skewers called ‘turlturrpa’ and then cooked over a fire. ‘Wanakiji’ can also be skewered and left to dry. When they are prepared in this way it is called ‘turlturrpa’ and the fruit can be kept for a long time. In contemporary Warlpiri paintings traditional iconography is used to represent the Jukurrpa, particular sites and other elements. The Wanakiji Jukurrpa belongs to Napanangka/Napangardi women and Japanangka/Japangardi men.

Rosena Napaljarri Dickson was born in 1989, in Yuendumu, a remote Aboriginal community located 290 km from Alice Springs in the Northern Territory. Rosena is following the footsteps of her family, her mother, Jean Napanangka Brown , her father, Alan Japaljarri Dickson and her sister Samara Napljarri Dickson, who all paint for Warlukurlangu Artists Aboriginal Corporation, an Aboriginal owned and governed art centre located in Yuendumu. Rosena attended the local school and finished her education at Yirara College, an Aboriginal boarding college in Alice Springs. When she completed her studies she returned to Yuendumu, and began painting with Warlukurlangu Artists, as well as working at the ‘Big Store’. She paints her parents’ Jukurrpa stories, Dreamings which relate directly to 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. Rosena uses an unrestricted palette to develop a modern interpretation of her traditional Jukurrpa. When Rosena is not painting she likes to go hunting with her family for kangaroos, goannas and bush tucker such as Bush Tomato, Bush Potato and Bush Sultannas.