Laketta Nampijinpa Turner, Pamapardu Jukurrpa - Warntungurru, 46x46cm

• Aboriginal Artist - Laketta Nampijinpa Turner
• Community - Yuendumu  
• Aboriginal Art Centre - Warlukurlangu Artists Aboriginal Corporation  
• Catalogue number - 997/21ny
• 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

This painting depicts the Pamapardu Jukurrpa (Flying Ant Dreaming) from Wapurtali, 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’.

Laketta Sharona Nampijinpa Turner was born in Alice Springs Hospital, the closest hospital to Yuendumu, a remote Aboriginal community 290 km north-west of Alice Springs in the NT of Australia. She is the daughter of Alistair Jangala Turner and Judith Nungarrayi Martin and granddaughter of Helen Nampijinpa Robertson, all well-known artists who paint for Warlukurlangu Artists.

Laketta Sharona Nampijinpa has been painting with Warlukurlangu Artists Aboriginal Corporation, an Aboriginal owned and governed art centre located in Yuendumu since 2014. Since an early age her parents have encouraged her to paint and by the age of 10 years she was producing her own artwork. She paints her Dad’s Pamapardu Jukurrpa (Flying Ant Dreaming) and her Mum’s Ngatijirri Jukurrpa (Budgerigar Dreaming) and Janganpa Jukurrpa (Brush-tail Possum Dreaming). These stories relate directly to her land, its features and the plants and animals that inhabit it, and have been passed down to her by her parents and their ancestors before them for millennia.

When Laketta is not painting, she attends Yirara College, an Aboriginal boarding college in Alice Springs. She enjoys school and likes playing Basketball. When she’s home in Nyirripi she likes to go hunting, in particular, hunting for Bush Banana, with her parents and her three brothers.