Lisa Nampijinpa Cook, Yarla Jukurrpa (Bush Potato Dreaming) - Cockatoo Creek, 30x30cm

This Yarla Jukurrpa belongs to men of the Japaljarri/Jungarrayi subsections and to Napaljarri/Nungarrayi women. It comes from an area to the east of Yuendumu called Cockatoo Creek. ‘Yarla’ (bush potato [Ipomea costata]) are fibrous tubers that grow beneath a low spreading plant, found by looking for cracks in the ground. This edible tuber grows from ‘yartura’ (roots) which seek out moisture to spout new plants. Yarla are good to eat, when cooked they are really soft and tasty. The Jukurrpa tells of ‘yarla’ and ‘wapirti’ (bush carrot [Vigna lanceolata]) ancestors fighting a big battle in this area. The specific site associated with this painting is a ‘mulju’ (water soakage) called Ngarparapunyu. In contemporary Warlpiri paintings traditional iconography is used to represent the Jukurrpa, associated sites and other elements. The curved lines of the ‘kuruwarri’ (ceremonial designs) represent the ‘ngamarna’ (vine-like tendrils) from which grow ‘jinjirla’ (flowers). ‘Karlangu’ (digging sticks) are usually represented as straight lines. ‘Karlangu’are used by women to dig for bush tucker like Yarla and Wapirti which are found underground.

Lisa Nampijinpa Cook was born in 1970 at Yeulamu, a remote Aboriginal community (located on the site of the old Mount Allan Station) and situated approximately 70 km south of Yuendumu on the Tanami Track. Lisa attended the local school and when she completed her studies she worked as a volunteer at the Women’s Centre, cooking lunches. Since 2000 she has been teaching Junior primary at Yeulamu School as assistant teacher. She is married and has one son, Kieren Campbell, born in 1997.

Lisa began painting when she was a young adult, learning to paint from her father, Jack Jangala Cook (a well-respected Mt Allan artist) and her mother Edna. In 2012 she began painting with Warlukurlangu Artists Aboriginal Corporation, an Aboriginal owned and governed art centre located in Yuendumu, a remote Aboriginal community located 290kms north-west of Alice Springs in the Northern Territory. Her love for learning inspired her to participate in a Mt Allan Workshop run by Warlukurlangu Art Centre. She paints her Mother’s Yarla Jukurrpa (Bush Potato Dreaming) and her Father’s Yankirri Jukurrpa (Emu Dreaming), 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 parents and their parents before them for millennia.

When Lisa’s not working or painting she likes to go hunting with her family for honey ants and goanna.