Catherine Nungarrayi Malbunka, Yankirri Jukurrpa (Emu Dreaming) - Ngarlikurlangu, 30x30cm

This particular site of the Yankirri Jukurrpa, (emu Dreaming [Dromaius novaehollandiae]) is at Ngarlikurlangu, north of Yuendumu. The ‘yankirri’ travelled to the rockhole at Ngarlikurlangu to find water. This Jukurrpa story belongs to Jangala/Jampijinpa men and Nangala/Nampijinpa women. In contemporary Warlpiri paintings traditional iconography is used to represent the Jukurrpa, associated sites and other elements. Emus are usually represented by their ‘wirliya’ (footprints), arrow-like shapes that show them walking around Ngarlikurlangu eating ‘yakajirri’ (bush raisin [Solanum centrale]). In the time of the Jukurrpa there was a fight at Ngarlikiurlangu between a ‘yankirri’ ancestor and Wardilyka (Australian bustard [Ardeotis australis]) ancestors over sharing the ‘yakajirri’. There is also a dance for this Jukurrpa that is performed during initiation ceremonies.

Catherine Nungarrayi Malbunka was born in Papunya, a remote Aboriginal community located roughly 240 km north-west of Alice Springs in the NT of Australia. When she was young she attended the local school in Papunya and later went to Yirara College, an Aboriginal boarding college in Alice Springs. When she finished school she held a number of jobs including working in the local store, helping out at the local school and working for the Women’s Centre, a group of volunteers who assist other organisations in the community. She moved to Yuendumu when she married Kipper Jupurrurla Ross and they have three children, Bradley, Charmaine and Malcolm. Catherine has been painting with Warlukurlangu Artists Aboriginal Corporation, an Aboriginal owned and governed art centre located in Yuendumu, since 2005. She paints her father’s Jukurrpa stories, Dreamings which relate directly to her land, its features and the plants and animals that inhabit it. These stories were passed down to her by her father and his father’s father before him for millennia. “I like to paint; I love the colours and my dreamings”. When she is not painting she likes to go hunting for bush tucker and for witchetty grubs.

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