Agnes Nampijinpa Fry, Pamapardu Jukurrpa (Flying Ant Dreaming) - Warntungurru, 30x30cm

• Aboriginal Artist - Agnes Nampijinpa Fry
• Community - Yuendumu
• Aboriginal Art Centre - Warlukurlangu Artists Aboriginal Corporation
• Catalogue number - 1668/20
• Materials - Acrylic on pre-stretched canvas 
• Size(cm) - H30 W30 D3.5 
• Postage variants - This work is posted pre-stretched and ready to hang
• Orientation - Painted from all sides and OK to hang as wished

This painting depicts the Pamapardu Jukurrpa (Flying Ant Dreaming) from Warntungurru, west of Yuendumu. 'Pamapardu' is the Warlpiri name for the flying ants or termites that build the large anthills found throughout Warlpiri country. This country belongs to Nakamarra/Napurrurla women and Jakamarra/Jupurrurla men. 'Pamapardu' are flying ants. They build earth mounds (‘mingkirri’) that are common in the Tanami area. When heavy rains come in summer the ‘mingkirri’ get flooded out, so the ‘pamapardu’ grow wings and fly off to make new homes, following their queens to dry mounds or to build a new. When they have found their new home they drop their wings. In this stage they can be collected, lightly cooked in coals and eaten. As they fall to the ground women collect them to eat because they are nice and sweet. In contemporary Warlpiri paintings traditional iconography is used to represent the Jukurrpa, particular sites and other elements. When this Jukurrpa story is painted concentric circles are used to represent the ‘mingkirri’ and the rockholes involved in the story, including the central one at Wapurtali (Mt Singleton). Dashes are often depicted around the circles to represent the ‘pamapardu’.

Agnes Nampijinpa Fry was born in 1965 in Yuendumu, a remote community located 290kms north-west of Alice Springs in the Northern Territory of Australia. Agnes was schooled in Yuendumu and still lives there today. She is married to Stephen Jakamarra Walker, the son of the famous Warlpiri artist Liddy Napanangka Walker. They have four children, Lesley, Braden, Sinella and Trevor. Their eldest son lives in Papunya and their eldest daughter lives at Mt Liebig, originally an outstation of Papunya but now a small community in its own rights. Their two youngest children still go to school. Agnes has been painting with Warlukurlangu Artists Aboriginal Corporation, an Aboriginal owned and governed art centre located in Yuendumu, since 2006. She paints her father’s Jukurrpa stories, Dreamings relating directly to her land, its features and animals. These stories were passed down to her by her father and her grandfather and their fathers for millennia. When Agnes is not painting she likes to go hunting for bush tucker, particularly Bush Currants. When she has the opportunity she also likes to travel to Papunya and Mt Liebig to see her daughter and son.