Samantha Napurrurla Wilson, Wanakiji Jukurrpa (Bush Tomato Dreaming), 50x40cm

• Aboriginal Artist - Samantha Napurrurla Wilson
• Community - Yuendumu
• Aboriginal Art Centre - Warlukurlangu Artists Aboriginal Corporation
• Catalogue number - 2303/23
• Materials - Acrylic on pre-stretched canvas
• Size(cm) - H50 W40 D3.5
• Postage variants - Artwork is posted stretched and ready to hang
• Orientation - Painted from all sides and OK to hang as wished

The Wanakiji Jukurrpa (bush tomato [Solanum chippendalei] Dreaming) travels through Yaturlu (near Mount Theo, north of Yuendumu). “Wanakiji” grows in open spinifex country and is a small, prickly plant with purple flowers that bears green fleshy fruit with many small black seeds. After collecting the fruit the seeds are removed with a small wooden spoon called ‘kajalarra’. The fruit then can be eaten raw or threaded onto skewers called ‘turlturrpa’ and then cooked over a fire. ‘Wanakiji’ can also be skewered and left to dry. When they are prepared in this way it is called ‘turlturrpa’ and the fruit can be kept for a long time. In contemporary Warlpiri paintings traditional iconography is used to represent the Jukurrpa, particular sites and other elements. The Wanakiji Jukurrpa belongs to Napanangka/Napangardi women and Japanangka/Japangardi men.

Samantha Napurrurla Wilson was born 1978 and grew up in Yuendumu, a remote Aboriginal community 290 km north-west of Alice Springs in the NT of Australia. The area around Yuendumu is her father's and her grandmother's country. When she was little Samantha stayed with her mother in Alice Springs where she went to a convent school. Later, when she got bigger, she returned to Yuendumu to finish her schooling. She is a single mother with two children born in 2002 and 2005 respectively. Her other two sons from her previous marriage live with their father in Billiluna, 550 km north-west of Yuendumu. Samantha has been painting with Warlukurlangu Artists Aboriginal Corporation, an Aboriginal owned and governed art centre located in Yuendumu, since 2010. She paints her Jukurrpa stories, Dreamings which relate directly to her land. These stories were passed down to her by her grandmother and her grandmother's mother for generations. Samantha likes to paint the Dreaming of her grandmother, which is the Yurrampi Jukurrpa or Honey Ant Dreaming. When she has free time Samantha likes to play basketball and to walk with her children in the bush around Yuendumu and tell them stories of her country, its features and animals.