Andrea Nungarrayi Wilson, Yurrampi Jukurrpa (Honey Ant Dreaming), 30x30cm

• Aboriginal Artist - Andrea Nungarrayi Wilson
• Community - Nyirripi  
• Aboriginal Art Centre - Warlukurlangu Artists Aboriginal Corporation  
• Catalogue number - 359/19ny
• Materials - Acrylic on pre-stretched canvas
• Size(cm) - H30 W30 D3.5 
• Postage variants - Artwork is posted stretched and ready to hang
• Orientation - Painted from all sides and OK to hang as wished

Honey ants are a much prized delicacy, considered to be well worth the enormous effort it takes to dig them out of the ground. The ants dig tunnels quite deep under the ground in ‘jirrijirrinpa’ (mulga woodland) country. Branching from these passage ways are chambers (‘mingki’), from the ceiling of which the honey ants are suspended, full of food. With their swollen abdomens, the ants are unable to move. The country associated with this Jukurrpa is Wanakurdpanda, east of Yuendumu. This Jukurrpa also travels through Yuendumu, and belongs to Japangardi/Japanangka men and Napangardi/Napanangka women. Honey ants can be identified by a little yellow stripe on their backs.

Andrea Nungarrayi Wilson is the daughter in law of Alice Nampijinpa Henwood, a well-known artist who paints with Warlukurlangu Artists.  In 2007 Andrea  lived in Nyirripi, she later (2011) moved to Billiluna, a community on the Canning Stock Route, not too far from the Tanami Road, in WA. It is located 147 km south of Halls Creek and 593 km north-west of Yuendumu. Andrea lives there with her husband and three children.

Andrea has been painting for Warlukurlangu Artists Aboriginal Corporation; an Aboriginal owned and governed Art Centre, since 2007. She mainly paints her Father’s Jukurrpa, in particular Yurrampi Jukurrpa (Honey Ant Dreaming).These dreamings relate directly to the land, its features and the plants and animals that inhabit it. They were passed down to her father by his father and his father’s father before him for millennia. Andrea uses traditional designs and icons with an unrestricted palette to develop a modern interpretation of her traditional culture.