Azaria Nampijinpa Robertson, Janganpa Jukurrpa (Brush-tail Possum Dreaming) - Mawurrji, 107x61cm

• Aboriginal Artist - Azaria Nampijinpa Robertson
• Community - Yuendumu
• Aboriginal Art Centre - Warlukurlangu Artists Aboriginal Corporation  
• Catalogue number - 1558/25
• Materials - Acrylic on linen 
• Size(cm) - H107 W61 D2  
• Postage variants - Artwork posted un-stretched and rolled for safe shipping
• Orientation - As displayed

Janganpa Jukurrpa (common brush-tail possum [Trichosurus vulpecula] Dreaming) travels all over Warlpiri country. ‘Janganpa’ are nocturnal animals that often nest in the hollows of white gum trees (‘wapunungka’). This story comes from a big hill called Mawurrji, west of Yuendumu and north of Pikilyi (Vaughan Springs). A group of ‘janganpa’ ancestors resided there. Every night they would go out in search of food. Their hunting trips took them to Wirlki and Wanapirdi, where they found ‘pamapardu’ (flying ants). They journeyed on to Ngarlkirdipini looking for water. A Nampijinpa women was living at Mawurrji with her two daughters. She gave her daughters in marriage to a Jupurrurla ‘janganpa’ but later decided to run away with them. The Jupurrurla angrily pursued the woman. He tracked them to Mawurrji where he killed them with a stone axe. Their bodies are now rocks at this place. Warlpiri people perform a young men’s initiation ceremony, which involves the Janganpa Jukurrpa. The Janganpa Jukurrpa belongs to Jakamarra/Jupurrurla men and Nakamarra/Napurrurla women. In Warlpiri paintings traditional iconography is used to represent this Jukurrpa. ‘Janganpa’ tracks are often represented as 'E' shaped figures and concentric circles are used to depict the trees in which the ‘janganpa’ live, and also the sites at Mawurrji.

Azaria Nampijinpa Robertson was born in 1988 in Alice Springs Hospital, the closest hospital to Yuendumu, a remote Aboriginal community 290 km north-west of Alice Springs. Azaria grew up in Yuendumu where she went to school. She is married to Francis Japangardi Forest. They have two children, one boy and one girl. Azaria has been painting with Warlukurlangu Artists Aboriginal Corporation, an Aboriginal owned and governed art centre located in Yuendumu, since 2003. She paints her Grandmother’s Jukurrpa, Dreaming depicting Mina Mina, country far west of Yuendumu. Azaria uses traditional designs and icons in her artwork denoting place, and describing the journey of a group of women gathering food and uses an unrestricted palette to develop a modern interpretation of her traditional culture. She likes to paint through the art centre as often as she is able to while caring for her two children. She currently works with the Mount Theo Sniffer Program, an aboriginal incentive of tribal elders, started in 1994 with no outside resources and with the full support of the community which turned out to be the most successful strategy for dealing with the problem of petrol sniffing.