Gweneth Napurrurla Nelson, Janganpa Jukurrpa (Brush-tail Possum Dreaming) - Mawurrji, 30x30cm

• Aboriginal Artist - Gweneth Napurrurla Nelson
• Community - Yuendumu  
• Aboriginal Art Centre - Warlukurlangu Artists Aboriginal Corporation  
• Catalogue number - 3379/21
• Materials - Acrylic on pre-stretched canvas  
• Size(cm) - H30 W30 D3.5  
• Postage variants - Artwork posted pre-stretched and ready to hang
• Orientation - Painted from all sides and OK to hang as wished

Janganpa Jukurrpa (common brush-tail possum [Trichosurus vulpecula] Dreaming) travels all over Warlpiri country. ‘Janganpa’ are nocturnal animals that often nest in the hollows of white gum trees (‘wapunungka’). This story comes from a big hill called Mawurrji, west of Yuendumu and north of Pikilyi (Vaughan Springs). A group of ‘janganpa’ ancestors resided there. Every night they would go out in search of food. Their hunting trips took them to Wirlki and Wanapirdi, where they found ‘pamapardu’ (flying ants). They journeyed on to Ngarlkirdipini looking for water. A Nampijinpa women was living at Mawurrji with her two daughters. She gave her daughters in marriage to a Jupurrurla ‘janganpa’ but later decided to run away with them. The Jupurrurla angrily pursued the woman. He tracked them to Mawurrji where he killed them with a stone axe. Their bodies are now rocks at this place. Warlpiri people perform a young men’s initiation ceremony, which involves the Janganpa Jukurrpa. The Janganpa Jukurrpa belongs to Jakamarra/Jupurrurla men and Nakamarra/Napurrurla women. In Warlpiri paintings traditional iconography is used to represent this Jukurrpa. ‘Janganpa’ tracks are often represented as 'E' shaped figures and concentric circles are used to depict the trees in which the ‘janganpa’ live, and also the sites at Mawurrji.

Gweneth Napurrurla Nelson was born in Alice Springs Hospital, the closest hospital to Yuendumu, a remote aboriginal community 290 km north-west of Alice Springs in the Northern Territory of Australia. Her parents are Doris Napaljarri Jurrah and Terry Jakamarra Nelson, both artists who paint with Warlukurlangu Artists. Gweneth attended the local school in Yuendumu and completed her studies at Yirara College, an Aboriginal boarding college in Alice Springs. When she completed her studies she returned to Yuendumu, where she has lived ever since. Gweneth has been painting intermittently with Warlukurlangu Artists Aboriginal Corporation, an Aboriginal owned and governed art centre located in Yuendumu, since 2002. She paints her father’s and mother’s 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 her grandparents and their parents before them for millennia. She learnt to paint first at school and then by watching all the family paint. She loves colour and painting patterns 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 Gweneth is not painting she likes to go hunting with her family.