Stephanie Napurrurla Nelson, Ngapa Jukurrpa, 46x46cm

• Artist - Stephanie Napurrurla Nelson
• Community - Yuendumu  
• Art Centre/Community organisation - Warlukurlangu Artists Aboriginal Corporation  
• Catalogue number - 1835/14  
• Materials - Acrylic on canvas 
• Size(cm) - H46 W46 D2 
• Postage variants - Artwork is posted un-stretched and rolled for shipping.

The country associated with this Ngapa Jukurrpa (water Dreaming) is Mikanji, a watercourse that is usually dry, west of Yuendumu. In this creek bed there are ‘mulju’ (soakages). The custodians of this Jukurrpa are men of the Jangala/Jampijinpa skin groups, and women of the Nangala/Nampijinpa skin groups. The Dreaming travelled from Puyurru, northwest of Yuendumu to a ‘mulju’ in the Mikanji creek. By the side of the soakages two old blind women of the Nampijinpa skin group were sitting. A rain ancestor travelled to Mikanji from Puyurru and unleashed a huge storm. As the two women strained their eyes to see the sky, tears formed in their eyes, creating the rain. Their spirits can still be seen at Mikanji in the form of two ‘ngapiri’ (river red gums) growing near the soakage. Motifs frequently used to depict this story include concentric circles representing ‘mulju’ (water soakages) and short bars depicting ‘mangkurdu’ (cumulus & stratocumulus clouds).

Stephanie Napurrurla Nelson was born in 1984 in the Northern Territory town of Alice Springs. She grew up 290km from there, in Yuendumu, a remote Aboriginal Community. She attended the local school then studied at Yirrara College, an Aboriginal boarding college in Alice Springs. Stephanie's auntie is Bessie Nakamarra Sims (Dec) who was one of the founding artists of Warlukurlangu Artists Aboriginal Corporation, an Aboriginal owned and governed art centre in the community of Yuendumu. Stephanie has painted at the art centre since 2000 under the guidance of Bessie, from whom she has been handed the Dreaming stories she paints. These stories have been passed down in this way over many generations. Stephanie’s dreamings include Janganpa (possum), Yarla (bush potato), Karnta (women), Marlu (kangaroo), Pamabaru (flying ant). They come from Waputali, the country of which her family are custodians, and relate directly to this land, it's features and animals. Stephanie is married and has a son who was born in 2003. She likes playing basketball and going hunting with her family.