Kerry Napurrurla Nelson, Karnta Jukurrpa (Womens Dreaming), 30x30cm

• Artist - Kerry Napurrurla Nelson 
• Community - Nyirripi  
• Art Centre/Community organisation - Warlukurlangu Artists Aboriginal Corporation  
• Catalogue number - 858/15ny
• Materials - Acrylic on pre-stretched canvas  
• Size(cm) - H30 W30 D3.5  
• Postage variants - Artwork posted stretched and ready to hang

This painting depicts Nakamarra and Napurrurla women hunting for bush foods. The ‘kirda’ (owners) for this story are Nakamarra/Napurrurla women and Jakamarra/Jupurrurla men. Yumurrpa and Wapurtali are two major Dreaming sites owned by the Nakamarra/Jakamarra and Napurrurla/Jupurrurla subsections; these sites are also associated with bush food Dreamings. Yumurrpa is a major waterhole to the northwest of Yuendumu and a ‘yarla’ (bush potato [Ipomea costata]) Dreaming site. The area north of Wapurtali/Yintaramurru (Mt. Singleton) is a ‘wanakiji’ (bush tomato [Solanum chippendalei]) Dreaming site.

Warlpiri women hunt for a number of different bush foods at different times of the year. These include ‘ngarlkirdi’ (witchetty grubs [Endoxyla leucomochla larvae]), ‘yunkaranyi’ (honey ants [Camponotus inflatus]), ‘jintiparnta’ and ‘purlantarri’ (desert truffle [Elderia arenivaga]), ‘yuparli’ (bush bananas [Marsdenia australis]), ‘janmarda’ (bush onions [Cyperus bulbosus]), ‘pirlala’ (bush beans [Acacia coriacea seeds]), ‘ngarlajiyi’ (bush carrots [Vigna lanceolata]), ‘wayipi’ (small bush carrots [Boerhavia diffusa]), and ‘yakajirri’ (bush raisins [Solanum centrale]). Women traditionally dug for these foods using wooden ‘karlangu’ (digging sticks). The end of the digging sticks were charred and ground on a stone surface to create a bevelled edge. Today many Warlpiri women use crowbars (also called ‘karlangu’) to dig for bush foods. Collected bush foods are traditionally carried in ‘parraja’ (coolamons), which can be carried with a strap made from the ‘ngalyipi’ (snake vine [Tinospora smilacina]).

In Warlpiri paintings, traditional iconography is used to represent the Jukurrpa and other elements. Concentric circles are often used to represent the bush foods that the women have collected, while straight lines can be used to depict the ‘karlangu’ (digging sticks). Sinuous lines are often used to represent the ‘ngalyipi’ (snake vine).

Kerry Napurrurla Nelson was born in Alice Springs hospital, the closes hospital to Yuendumu, a remote Aboriginal community 290 km north-west of Alice Springs in the Northern Territory of Australia. She attended the local Yuendumu School before going to Yirara College, an Aboriginal boarding college in Alice Springs. After school she returned to Yuendumu but later moved to Nyirripi to be close to her grandmother, Molly Napurrurla Martin, a well-known artist with Warlukurlangu Artists. Kerry has two children. Kerry has been painting with Warlukurlangu Artists Aboriginal Corporation, an Aboriginal owned and governed art centre, since 2-008. She learnt to paint her traditional Jukurrpa from her Grandmother. Kerry 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 grandmother and her father’s father before them for millennia. When Kerry’s not painting she likes to go hunting and sometimes visiting her mother, Gladys Napangardi Martin, who now lives in Katherine, a town 320 km southeast of Darwin in the “Top End” of Australia in the Northern Terrritory. When Kerry visits her mother they often sit down together and paint.

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