Marshall Japangardi Poulson, Pikilyi Jukurrpa (Vaughan Springs Dreaming), 91x61cm

• Aboriginal Artist - Marshall Japangardi Poulson
• Community - Nyirripi
• Aboriginal Art Centre - Warlukurlangu Artists Aboriginal Corporation
• Catalogue number - 4278/21
• Materials - Acrylic on linen
• Size(cm) - H91 W61 D2 
• Postage variants - Artwork is posted un-stretched and rolled for safe shipping
• Orientation - Painted from all sides and OK to hang as wished

Pikilyi is a large and important waterhole and natural spring near Mount Doreen station. Pikilyi Jukurrpa (Vaughan Springs Dreaming) tells of the home of two rainbow serpents, ancestral heroes who lived together as man and wife. The woman ‘rainbow serpent’ was of the Napanangka skin group, the man was a Japangardi. This was a taboo relationship contrary to Warlpiri religious law. Women of the Napanangka and Napangardi subsection sat by the two serpents, picking lice off them. For this service, the two serpents allowed the women to take water from the springs at Pikilyi. This was because the serpents were the ‘kirda’, or ceremonial owners, for that country. The spirits of these two rainbow serpents are still at Pikilyi today. This Dreamings belongs to the women and men of the Japanangka/Napanangka and Japangardi/Napangardi skin groups.

Marshall Japangardi Poulson was born in Yuendumu in 1961. His mother was from Derby, in Western Australia. His father's country is Pikilyi, a waterhole near Mont Doreen Station and nearby to Yuendumu. The dreamings associated with this region feature in many of Marshall's paintings. He first painted in the 1980s, learning from his older brother Neville "Cobra" Japangardi Poulson who was a well-known Yuendumu artist. Since his brother's death in 2013, Marshall has been inspired to start painting again so that the dreamings and knowledge that they inherited from their father will continue to be passed on. "I like painting because young people want to see the dreamings". 

Marshall attended school in Yuendumu and went on to boarding school at Yirara College outside of Alice Springs. He trained as an apprentice mechanic and worked at Yuendumu after finishing. He is married to Flora Nakamarra Brown, another well-known artist painting with Warlukurlangu Artists. They now live in Nyirripi, a smaller and more remote community, for a quieter life. Flora and Marshall do now have children of their own but do have many nieces and nephews in Areyonga and Darwin.

In Marshall's free time, if he has access to a four wheel drive he likes to go out hunting. He also attends the local church in Nyirripi and occasionally goes to church conferences in Darwin.