Karen Napaljarri Barnes, Jarlji Jukurrpa (Frog Dreaming), 61x46cm

• Aboriginal Artist - Karen Napaljarri Barnes
• Community - Yuendumu
• Aboriginal Art Centre - Warlukurlangu Artists Aboriginal Corporation
• Catalogue number - 1099/17
• Materials - Acrylic on canvas 
• Size(cm) - H46 W61 D2
• Postage variants - Artwork is posted un-stretched and rolled for safe shipping
• Orientation - As displayed

This painting tells the story of the Jarlji Jukurrpa (frog Dreaming) from Jarljikirlangu, a place to the west of Mt. Denison. Jarljikirlangu means ‘belonging to frog’. This place belongs to Japaljarri/Jungarrayi men and Napaljarri/Nungarrayi women. Jarljikurlangu is a large creek that is dry for most of the year. When it rains it becomes like a swamp, a big water course. The ‘jarlji’ (frog) burrow underground and hibernate during the dry season until the rainy season comes, so the ‘jarlji’ come out of the ground and sit down there. After the rain the ‘jarlji’ frogs croak at night. Women dig for them to cook and then eat them. Frogs can be a very important food source in dry years as they can be found lying together in the soft, moist soil found along many dry watercourses in central Australia.

Karen Napaljarri Barnes was born in Lajamanu, a remote Aboriginal community in semi-arid country on the edge of the Tanami Desert 1000km north-west of Alice Springs in the Northern Territory. She moved to Yuendumu, 700km south, after finishing school in Lajamanu, to be with her family. She has been painting with Warlukurlangu Artists Aboriginal Corporation, an Aboriginal owned and governed Art Centre, since 2001. She is the grand-daughter of Warlukurlangus's famous artist Judy Napangardi Watson and they would sit together painting at the Art Centre every day when Karen first started painting. Karen paints the dreaming stories handed down to her by her family for generations of millenia, stories which come from Mina Mina, country west of Yuendumu of which her family are the custodians. She also paints Karnta Jukurrpa (Women’s Dreaming), Wakulyarri Jukurrpa (Wallaby Dreaming), Ngarlajiyi Jukurrpa (Bush Carrot Creaming). Karen loves sport, especially basketball and softball, and is an avid football spectator, barracking for Lajamanu.