Ritasha Nampijinpa Martin, Ngarlu Jukurrpa (Love Dreaming), 91x91cm

• Aboriginal Artist - Ritasha Nampijinpa Martin
• Community - Yuendumu
• Aboriginal Art Centre - Warlukurlangu Artists Aboriginal Corporation  
• Art centre catalogue number - 821/25
• Materials - Acrylic on linen
• Size(cm) - H91 W91 D2
• Postage variants - Artwork posted un-stretched and rolled for safe shipping
• Orientation - Painted from all sides and OK to hang as wished

The story of the Ngarlu Jukurrpa (love Dreaming) is about a Jungarrayi man called Lintipilinti who lived at Ngarlu, which means ‘red rock’, a country to the east of Yuendumu. Lintipilinti fell in love with a Napangardi woman, a forbidden relationship under Warlpiri law, as the woman was his classificatory mother-in-law. Lintipilinti fell in love with the Napangardi woman when he saw the large hole in the ground she made when she urinated. Lintipilinti was aroused by this. He began to wonder how he could woo the Napangardi. He went to Ngarlu and made hair string for her, singing as he worked. The Napangardi woman could not sleep and began to feel sick. She realized that someone was singing ‘yilpinji’ (love songs) for her. A little bird visited the Napangardi woman every day. The little bird was taking the Jungarrayi’s love songs to her. The force of the Jungarrayi's love songs pulled the Napangardi woman to Lintipilinti. When the two met again they made love but they were turned to stone, as their relationship was taboo according to Warlpiri religious law. The two can still be seen, as two rocks, at Ngarlu today. During the course of these events the women from Ngarlu who gossiped about the wrong skin love union turned into ‘miinypa’ (native fuchsia [Eromophila spp.]). These are plants with small red flowers that have honey inside them that are delicious to eat, tasting like ice-cream. Ngarlu is a sacred place where ‘miinypa’ or ‘yanyirlingi’ are still commonly found today.

Ritasha Nampilinpa Watson is the daughter of Andrea Nungarrayi Martin, distinguished artist and long time art coordinator at Warlukurlangu Artists. Although still very young she has been painting and exhibiting for a long time alongside her mother. She is married to Michael Japaljarri Wayne and they have one son, Johnny. Ritasha was born in Alice Springs and has spent her whole life in Yuendumu, a remote Aboriginal community 290 km north-west of Alice Springs. She attended the local school and when she finished her schooling she worked with the local Youth Program ‘Jaru Pijirdi’ helping to prevent petrol sniffing in the community. At the moment Ritasha is taking time off to look after her young son and to paint full time at the art centre. Ritasha first started painting on little boards through the art centre’s school cultural maintenance program held during school holidays. She has been painting with Warlukurlangu Artists Aboriginal Corporation, an Aboriginal owned and governed art centre located in Yuendumu, since 2001 and has been exhibiting in Group Exhibitions in Australia, England and USA, since 2005. Ritasha paints her Ngapa Jukurrpa (Water Dreaming) stories, Dreamings which relate to Pirlinyarnu country. These stories were passed down to her by her mother and her mother’s mother and their parents before them for millennia. When Ritasha is not painting she likes to sit with her friends and their children telling stories about their country.