Janice Nampijinpa Hargraves, Ngapa Jukurrpa (Water Dreaming) - Pirlinyarnu, 30x30cm

• Artist - Janice Nampijinpa Hargraves
• Community - Yuendumu  
• Art Centre/Community organisation - Warlukurlangu Artists Aboriginal Corporation  
• Catalogue number - 6856/16
• Materials - Acrylic on pre-stretched canvas  
• Size(cm) - H30 W30 D3.5  
• Postage variants - Artwork posted pre-stretched and ready to hang 

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.

Janice Nampijinpa Hargraves was born in 1953 at Mount Doreen Station, an extensive breeding cattle station located 55 km north-west of Yuendumu. When Janice was a little girl she moved to Yuendumu, a remote Aboriginal community 290 km north-west of Alice Springs, with her parents and her four sisters and two brothers. She attended the local school in Yuendumu and later married and moved to Halls Creek, WA, where her husband comes from. She continues to live in Halls Creek, where her children are now all grown up, married and have children of their own. Janice visits Yuendumu regularly to catch up with her family. When Janice visits Yuendumu she paints for Warlukurlangu Artists Aboriginal Corporation, an Aboriginal owned and governed Art Centre located in Yuendumu. She paints her father’s and her grandfather’s Jukurrpa stories, particularly Ngapa Jukurrpa (Water Dreaming), Dreamings relating directly to her country, its features and the animals and plants that live on the land. When Janice is not painting she loves to play with her grandchildren.