Vistaria Nakamarra Ross, Lukarrara Jukurrpa (Desert Fringe-rush Seed Dreaming), 30x30cm

• Aboriginal Artist - Vistaria Nakamarra Ross
• Community - Yuendumu
• Aboriginal Art Centre - Warlukurlangu Artists Aboriginal Corporation  
• Catalogue number - 4690/22
• Materials - Acrylic on pre-stretched canvas  
• Size(cm) - H30 W30 D3.5 
• Postage variants - Artwork posted stretched and ready to hang
• Orientation - Painted from all sides and OK to hang as wished

This Jukurrpa belongs to women of the Nakamarra/Napurrurla subsections and to Jakamarra/Jupurrurla men. This Dreaming is associated with a place called Jaralypari, north of Yuendumu. Lukarrara (desert fringe-rush [Fimbristylis oxystachya & Fimbristylis eremophila]) is a grass with an edible seed. The seeds are traditionally ground on a large stone (‘ngatinyanu’) with a smaller stone (‘ngalikirri’) to make flour. This flour is mixed with water (‘ngapa’) to make damper cakes which are cooked and eaten. In Warlpiri traditional paintings iconography is used to represent the Jukurrpa, particular sites and other elements. Large concentric circles often represent the site of Jaralypari and also the seed bearing grass Lukurrara. ‘U’ shapes can depict the Karnta (women) collecting ‘lukarrara’ and straight lines are frequently used to portray seeds that fall down to the ground and are also collected by women using their ‘parrajas’ (wooden food carriers) and ‘karlangu’ (digging sticks).

Vistaria Nakamarra Ross was born in 1993 in Alice Springs Hospital, the closest hospital to Yuendumu, a remote Aboriginal community located 290 km north-west of Alice Springs in the NT of Australia. She was born into a family of artists. Her father is Victor Japurrurla Ross; her mother is Dadu Nungarrayi Gorey; and her grandmother is Maggie Napaljarri Ross; all who paint with Warlukurlangu Art Centre. Vistaria attended the local school and graduated in 2009. When she finished school she worked for the Child Care Centre. She currently has casual work with the New Future Alliance (NFA), an organisation that trains local men to work on refurbishing the older houses in the community and assists the tradesmen to build new homes. Vistaria is employed to clean and cook. She is married and has one son.

Vistaria has always enjoyed painting and from the age of 13 years would paint with Warlukurlangu during school holidays. She has been painting on a regular basis with Warlukurlangu Artists Aboriginal Corporation, an Aboriginal owned and governed art centre located in Yuendumu, since 2013. She paints her parents’Jukurrpa, Dreamings that include Janmarda Jukurrpa (Bush Onion Dreaming) and Warna Jukurrpa (Snake Dreaming) from her father’s side and Yurrampi Jukurrpa (Honey Ant Dreaming) and Ngurla Jukurrpa (Native Seed Dreaming) from her mother’s side. All these stories have been passed down over the generations for millennia and relate directly to the land, its features and the plants and animals that inhabit it. Vistaria likes to use an unrestricted palette to develop a modern interpretation of her traditional culture.

When Vistaria is not working and not painting she likes to go hunting for Yurrampi (honey ants) with her Aunty and her family.