Wilma Napangardi Poulson, Ngalyipi Jukurrpa (Snake Vine Dreaming)- Purturlu, 46x46cm

• Artist - Wilma Napangardi Poulson
• Community - Yuendumu  
• Art Centre/Community organisation - Warlukurlangu Artists Aboriginal Corporation  
• Catalogue number - 2571/10 
• Materials - Acrylic on canvas
• Size(cm) - H46 W46 D2
• Postage variants - Artwork posted rolled for safe shipping
• Orientation - Painted from all sides and OK to hang as wished

The country shown in this painting is Purturlu (Mt. Theo) area. Ngalyipi (snake vine [Tinospora smilacina]) is often represented in contemporary Warlpiri paintings by curved lines and has great ceremonial significance for Warlpiri. Napanangka/Napangardi women and Japanangka/Japangardi men are the custodians for the Ngalyipi Jukurrpa at this site. Ngalyipi is used to make shoulder straps to help carry ‘ngami’ (water carriers) and ‘parraja’ (wooden food carriers). In this painting the Napangardi and Napanangka women are collecting ‘ngalyipi’. The Ngalyipi Jukurrpa is associated with initiation ceremonies for young Japanangka and Japangardi men.

Wilma Napangardi Poulson was born in 1970 in Yuendumu, a remote Aboriginal community 290 km from Alice Springs in NT of Australia. She has a sister, Ivy Napangardi Poulson, an artist also working with Warlukurlangu Artists, and a brother who alternates between Darwin and Nyirripi. Wilma went to the local school in Yuendumu, then to Yirara College in Alice Springs. When she finished schooling she returned to Yuendumu. Wilma has been painting with Warlukurlangu Artists Aboriginal Corporation, an Aboriginal owned and governed art centre located in Yuendumu, since 2004. She paints several dreamings, but the ones that feature constantly are the Bush Banana Dreaming depicting Vaughan Springs country and the Snake Vine Dreaming relating to Mt Theo area. These Dreamings were passed down to her by her father and his father’s father for millennia. These stories relate to her land, its features and the plants and animals that inhabit it. Wilma was married but her husband passed away. She has no children but loves to take care of her nephew.