Melissa Napangardi Williams, Wardapi Jukurrpa (Goanna Dreaming) - Yarripurlangu, 30x30cm

• Aboriginal Artist - Melissa Napangardi Williams
• Community - Yuendumu
• Aboriginal Art Centre - Warlukurlangu Artists Aboriginal Corporation
• Catalogue number - 6686/21
• Materials - Acrylic on pre-stretched canvas
• Size(cm) - H30 W30 D3.5
• Postage variants - Artwork is posted stretched and ready to hang
• Orientation - Painted from all sides and OK to hang as wished

This Wardapi Jukurrpa (goanna [Varanus gouldii] Dreaming) comes from Yarripilangku, south-west of Yuendumu. It tells the story of a group of Karnta (Warlpiri women) that were sitting down in a circle. A man from Mt. Theo, of the Japangardi skin group named Wamaru, came up to the women. He wanted to take a girl of the wrong skin, a Nungarrayi. He took the Nungarrayi woman, named Yurlkurinyi, and went up the hill where they made love. Then the earth turned to Ngunjungunju (yellow and white ochre) and the man turned himself and all the ‘karnta’ (women) into ‘wardapi’ (goannas). The ochre is still found on top of the hill and is used today for love magic and for ceremonial decoration. This Jukurrpa belongs to the Napaljarri/Japaljarri and Nungarrayi/Jungarrayi subsections. It also belongs to people from Mt Theo of the Japanangka/Napanangka, Japangardi/Napangardi subsections. In paintings of this Jukurrpa, the group of women is often represented by concentric circles and ‘U’ shapes typically are used to represent women. Concentric circles can also illustrate ‘wardapi’ holes and the droppings they leave while ‘wardapi’ tracks are usually represented by ‘W’ shapes.

''Being a painter makes me relax.”

Melissa Napangardi Williams was born in Alice Springs Hospital, the closest hospital to Yuendumu, a remote Aboriginal community 290 km north-west of Alice Springs in the NT of Australia. She is the daughter of Alice Napurrurla Nelson and Warren Japanangka Williams, and has one sister and two brothers. Melissa attended the local school before going to Yirara College, an Aboriginal boarding college in Alice Springs. When she graduated from College, she returned to Yuendumu where she worked as a Receptionist at the local School, at the Health Clinic and later became a full-time carer, looking after her two nephews, niece and her son and daughter.

Melissa Napangardi began painting with Warlukurlangu Artists Aboriginal Corporation, an Aboriginal owned and governed art centre located in Yuendumu, since 2004. She paints her Father’s Wanakiji Jukurrpa (Bush Tomato Dreaming), Yarla Jukurrpa (Bush Potato Dreaming) and Yuparli Jukurrpa (Bush Banana Dreaming). She also paints her Mother’s Wardapi Jukurrpa (Goanna Dreaming). These stories were passed down to her by her family and their ancestors before them for millennia. She uses an unrestricted palette to develop a modern interpretation of traditional motifs with her own ideas of design and pattern.

 When not painting, Melissa enjoys spending time with her husband and three children.