Desmond Japangardi Williams, Ngapa Jukurrpa (Water Dreaming) - Pirlinyarnu, 30x30cm

• Aboriginal Artist - Desmond Japangardi Williams
• Community - Yuendumu  
• Aboriginal Art Centre - Warlukurlangu Artists Aboriginal Corporation  
• Catalogue number - 616/22ny
• Materials - Acrylic paint on pre-stretched canvas  
• Size(cm) - H30 W30 D3.5  
• Postage variants - Artwork posted stretched and ready to hang.
• Orientation - Painted from all sides and OK to hang as wished

The site depicted in this painting is Pirlinyarnu (Mt. Farewell), about 165 km west of Yuendumu in the Northern Territory. The ‘kirda’ (owners) for the water Dreaming site at Pirlinyarnu are Nangala/Nampijinpa women and Jangala/Jampijinpa men.

Two Jangala men, rainmakers, sang the rain, unleashing a giant storm that collided with another storm from Wapurtali at Mirawarri. A ‘kirrkarlanji’ (brown falcon [Falco berigora]) carried the storm further west from Mirawarri. The two storms travelled across the country from Karlipirnpa, a ceremonial site for the water Dreaming near Kintore that is owned by members of the Napaljarri/Japaljarri and Napanangka/Japanangka subsections. Along the way the storms passed through Juntiparnta, a site that is owned by Jampijinpa men. The storm eventually became too heavy for the falcon. It dropped the water at Pirlinyarnu, where it formed an enormous ‘maluri’ (claypan). A ‘mulju’ (soakage) exists in this place today. Whenever it rains today, hundreds of ‘ngapangarlpa’ (bush ducks) still flock to Pirlinyarnu.

In contemporary Warlpiri paintings, traditional iconography is used to represent the ‘Jukurrpa’ (Dreaming), associated sites, and other elements. In many paintings of this Dreaming, short dashes are often used to represent ‘mangkurdu’ (cumulus & stratocumulus clouds), and longer, flowing lines represent ‘ngawarra’ (flood waters). Small circles are used to depict ‘mulju’ (soakages) and river beds. 

Veronica Napangardi Williams was born in Alice Springs, in 1980, however she was brought up in Yuendumu, a remote Aboriginal community 290 km north-west of Alice Springs, by her Grandmother, Maggie Napaljarri Ross and her mother’s sister, Marlette Napurrurla Ross, both successful artists painting with Warlukurlangu Artists. Veronica went to Kormilda College, an Aboriginal boarding college in Darwin. After schooling she returned to Yuendumu where she worked on the Old People’s Program as a volunteer helping care for the elderly as well as working at the school and the childcare centre. In 1997 she met and married Jermaine Japaljarri Sims. They have two sons, Kieran and Emanuel. Veronica has been painting with Warlukurlangu Artists Aboriginal Corporation, an Aboriginal owned and governed art centre located in Yuendumu, since 2001. She paints her father’s Jukurrpa stories, in particular Jungunypa Jukurrpa (Spinifix Hopping-mouse Dreaming). She also likes to paint her mother’s dreaming, Yarla Jukurrpa (Bush Potato Dreaming). She learnt to paint first at school and then by watching all the family paint. She loves colour and uses an unrestricted palette to depict her traditional iconography, at the same time developing a modern individualist style, using pattern and design in a variety of contexts. When Veronica is not painting or caring for her children she loves to go hunting for honey ant and witchetty grubs.