Selma Napanangka Tasman, Ngapa Jukurrpa (Water Dreaming) - Pirlinyarnu, 61x30cm

• Aboriginal Artist - Selma Napanangka Tasman
• Community - Yuendumu  
• Aboriginal Art Centre - Warlukurlangu Artists Aboriginal Corporation  
• Catalogue number - 2318/23
• Materials - Acrylic paint on linen
• Size(cm) - H61 W30 D2  
• Postage variants - Artwork posted un-stretched and rolled for safe shipping
• Orientation - Painted from all sides and OK to hang as wished

The site depicted in this painting is Pirlinyarnu (Mt. Farewell), about 165 km west of Yuendumu in the Northern Territory. The ‘kirda’ (owners) for the water Dreaming site at Pirlinyarnu are Nangala/Nampijinpa women and Jangala/Jampijinpa men.

Two Jangala men, rainmakers, sang the rain, unleashing a giant storm that collided with another storm from Wapurtali at Mirawarri. A ‘kirrkarlanji’ (brown falcon [Falco berigora]) carried the storm further west from Mirawarri. The two storms travelled across the country from Karlipirnpa, a ceremonial site for the water Dreaming near Kintore that is owned by members of the Napaljarri/Japaljarri and Napanangka/Japanangka subsections. Along the way the storms passed through Juntiparnta, a site that is owned by Jampijinpa men. The storm eventually became too heavy for the falcon. It dropped the water at Pirlinyarnu, where it formed an enormous ‘maluri’ (claypan). A ‘mulju’ (soakage) exists in this place today. Whenever it rains today, hundreds of ‘ngapangarlpa’ (bush ducks) still flock to Pirlinyarnu.

In contemporary Warlpiri paintings, traditional iconography is used to represent the ‘Jukurrpa’ (Dreaming), associated sites, and other elements. In many paintings of this Dreaming, short dashes are often used to represent ‘mangkurdu’ (cumulus & stratocumulus clouds), and longer, flowing lines represent ‘ngawarra’ (flood waters). Small circles are used to depict ‘mulju’ (soakages) and river beds.

Selma Napanangka Tasman was born in Darwin Hospital, the closest hospital to Lajamanu, an Aboriginal community in semi-arid country on the edge of the Tanami Desert, halfway between Darwin and Alice Springs. She was born to Angelina Nampijinpa Tasman and Alec Japangardi Tasman and she has three sisters and one brother. When Selma was 11 years old she moved from Lajamanu to Yuendumu, a remote Aboriginal community a further 300 km south of Lajamanu, with her family. She attended the local school in Yuendumu and completed her studies at Yirara College, an Aboriginal boarding college in Alice Springs. Selma has been painting intermittently with Warlukurlangu Artists Aboriginal Corporation, an Aboriginal owned and governed art centre located in Yuendumu, since 2001. She paints her father’s and mother’s Jukurrpa stories, 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 father and mother and her grandparents and their parents before them for millennia. Selma uses an unrestricted palette to develop a modern interpretation of her traditional culture. Selma has three children and when she is not painting she is kept busy looking after them.