Priscilla Napurrurla Herbert, Lukarrara Jukurrpa, 61x46cm

• Artist - Priscilla Napurrurla Herbert
• Community - Nyirripi  
• Art Centre/Community organisation - Warlukurlangu Artists Aboriginal Corporation  
• Catalogue number - 1624/17ny 
• Materials - Acrylic on canvas  
• Size(cm) - H61 W46 D2
• Postage variants - Artwork posted un-stretched and rolled for safe shipping
• Orientation - Painted from all sides and OK to hang as wished

This Jukurrpa belongs to women of the Nakamarra/Napurrurla subsections and to Jakamarra/Jupurrurla men. This Dreaming is associated with a place called Jaralypari, north of Yuendumu. Lukarrara (desert fringe-rush [Fimbristylis oxystachya & Fimbristylis eremophila]) is a grass with an edible seed. The seeds are traditionally ground on a large stone (‘ngatinyanu’) with a smaller stone (‘ngalikirri’) to make flour. This flour is mixed with water (‘ngapa’) to make damper cakes which are cooked and eaten. In Warlpiri traditional paintings iconography is used to represent the Jukurrpa, particular sites and other elements. Large concentric circles often represent the site of Jaralypari and also the seed bearing grass Lukurrara. ‘U’ shapes can depict the Karnta (women) collecting ‘lukarrara’ and straight lines are frequently used to portray seeds that fall down to the ground and are also collected by women using their ‘parrajas’ (wooden food carriers) and ‘karlangu’ (digging sticks). 

Priscilla Napurrurla Herbert was born in 1977 in Alice Springs. She attended Yirara College, an aboriginal boarding college in Alice Springs. As a child she lived in Areyonga, west of Alice Springs with her mother. Her parents were separated when she was very young. After leaving school Priscilla worked for some time at Uluru. She met Lewis Moneymoon at Uluru and married him shortly after in Alice Springs. They live in Nyirripi and have one daughter born in 2007. Priscilla has been painting with Warlukurlangu Artists Aboriginal Corporation, an Aboriginal owned and governed art centre located in Yuendumu, since 2010. Her country is Tanami Downs, until recently Mongrel Downs Station, located about 700 km north-west of Alice Springs in the NT of Australia. It was on Mongrel Downs that her Grandparents died and it is her father’s country and her father’s brother’s, “Uncle Ronnie Lawson’s”, country. Ronnie Lawson was the main spokesperson for the claimant group claiming traditional aboriginal ownership of Tanami Downs. Priscilla paints her father’s Ngurlu Jukurrpa, (Native Seed Dreaming), and Lukarrara Jukurrpa (Desert Fringe –rush Dreaming), stories which relate directly to her land, its features and animals. When Priscilla is not painting she likes to visit her Mother in Areyonga and her Aunty Jennifer and Uncle Colin in Alice Springs.