Adrianna Nangala Egan, Yarla Jukurrpa (Bush Potato Dreaming) - Cockatoo Creek, 30x30cm

• Artist - Adrianna Nangala Egan
• Community - Yuendumu
• Art Centre/Community organisation - Warlukurlangu Artists Aboriginal Corporation
• Catalogue number - 2866/17
• Materials - Acrylic on pre-stretched canvas 
• Size(cm) - H30 W30 D3.5 
• Postage variants - This work is posted pre-stretched and ready to hang

This Yarla Jukurrpa belongs to men of the Japaljarri/Jungarrayi subsections and to Napaljarri/Nungarrayi women. It comes from an area to the east of Yuendumu called Cockatoo Creek. ‘Yarla’ (bush potato [Ipomea costata]) are fibrous tubers that grow beneath a low spreading plant, found by looking for cracks in the ground. This edible tuber grows from ‘yartura’ (roots) which seek out moisture to spout new plants. Yarla are good to eat, when cooked they are really soft and tasty. The Jukurrpa tells of ‘yarla’ and ‘wapirti’ (bush carrot [Vigna lanceolata]) ancestors fighting a big battle in this area. The specific site associated with this painting is a ‘mulju’ (water soakage) called Ngarparapunyu. In contemporary Warlpiri paintings traditional iconography is used to represent the Jukurrpa, associated sites and other elements. The curved lines of the ‘kuruwarri’ (ceremonial designs) represent the ‘ngamarna’ (vine-like tendrils) from which grow ‘jinjirla’ (flowers). ‘Karlangu’ (digging sticks) are usually represented as strait lines. ‘Karlangu’are used by women to dig for bush tucker like Yarla and Wapirti which are found underground.

Adrianna Nangala Egan was born in Alice Springs but has lived most of her life in Yuendumu, a remote Aboriginal community located 290 km north-west of Alice Springs in the NT of Australia. She attended the local school before going to Yeperenye School, an independent Aboriginal High School in Alice Springs. While at school she loved to draw. When she finished school she returned to Yuendumu. She is married and has three children, one son and two daughters. Adrianna has been painting with Warlukurlangu Artists Aboriginal Corporation, an Aboriginal owned and governed art centre located in Yuendumu, since 2006. Her grandmother on her mother’s side, who lives in Alice Springs but visits Yuendumu often, taught her to paint. “I like to paint, it makes me feel good and it keeps me busy...I like the colours and the patterns and designs of my Jukurrpa stories.” Adrianna mainly paints her Yarla Jukurrpa (Bush Potato Dreaming), Dreamings which relate to her land and which are her Great Grandfathers Dreaming. When she’s not painting she enjoys watching and playing with her kids.