Jeffrey Jangala Gallagher, Yankirri Jukurrpa (Emu Dreaming) - Ngarlikurlangu, 122x91cm

• Aboriginal Artist - Jeffrey Jangala Gallagher
• Community - Nyirripi
• Aboriginal Art Centre - Warlukurlangu Artists Aboriginal Corporation
• Catalogue number - 271/23ny
• Materials - Acrylic on linen
• Size(cm) - H122 W91 D2
• Postage variants - Artwork is posted un-stretched and rolled for safe shipping.
• Orientation - Painted from all sides and OK to hang as wished

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.

Jeffrey Jangala Gallagher was born in 1970 in Yuendumu, a remote Aboriginal community located 290 km north-west of Alice Springs in the NT of Australia. He was born into a family of well-known Warlukurlangu artists. In 1978 he moved to Nyirripi with his family, where he attended the local school.

Jeffrey began painting with Warlukurlangu Artists Aboriginal Corporation, an Aboriginal owned and governed art centre located in Yuendumu and Nyirripi in 2021. He paints his father’s and grandfather’s Yankirri Jukurrpa (Emu Dreaming) - Ngarlikirlangu and Lukarrara Jukurrpa (Desert Fringe-rush Seed Dreaming), Jukurrpa stories relating directly to his land, its features and the plants and animals that inhabit it. The have been passed down through the generations for millennia. He uses an unrestricted palette, blending his own patterns with ancestral motifs to depict his traditional Jukurrpa.

When not working, or painting, he loves to play sport and hunt with his family and friends.