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This painting depicts the Marlu Jukurrpa (red kangaroo [Macropus rufus] Dreaming) from Yarnardilyi and Jurnti (Mt Dennison area). ‘Marlu’ are highly valued as a food source by Warlpiri people. In the story of this painting an old ancestral kangaroo named Warlawee, who made its camp at Jurnti and moves from place to place - hunting during the day and returning at night to the camp, which it has formed by digging depressions in the soft ground. Warlawee traveled around large areas of country looking for their preferred foods, which include ‘yukuri’ (fresh green growth) and ‘yulkardi’ (desert cucumber [Mukia micrantha]) a low-growing herb found underneath ‘mulga’ trees which is used by Warlpiri people for medicinal purposes. He is thinking about having a ceremony for men. Women are not permitted to dance in this ceremony. This Jukurrpa is the custodial responsibility of Japaljarri/Jungarrayi men and Napaljarri/Nungarrayi women. In contemporary Warlpiri paintings traditional iconography is used to represent the Jukurrpa, particular sites and other elements. Concentric circles are often used in depictions of this story to represent the rocks at Yarnardilyi. The arc shapes depict the kangaroo's camp in the Jurnti area and 'E' and hooked shapes usually depict the ‘marlu wirliya’ (kangaroo fore and hind footprints) while long, straight lines represent the ‘marlu ngirnti’ (kangaroo tail tracks).
Sharlene Nakamarra Nelson was born in 1996 to Patricia Nungarrayi Spencer and Simon Jupurrurla Nelson. She was born in Alice Springs Hospital, the closest hospital to Yuendumu, a remote Aboriginal community 290 km north-west of Alice Springs in NT of Australia. Sharlene’s father’s grand-mother was Daisy Napanangka Nelson, one of the founding members of Warlukurlangu Artists Aboriginal Corporation, an Aboriginal owned and governed art centre located in Yuendumu, since 1987. Sharlene is related to many Warlukurlangu Artists including Mary Napangardi Butcher, Wilma Nampijinpa Robertson and Narelle Nakamarra Nelson. Sharlene still attends school. She began her studies at the local school in Yuendumu and in 2011 left home to continue her studies at Shalom Christian College, Townsville, where they offer campus boarding facilities for secondary students. She enjoys school, plays sport particularly basketball and loves music such as rap and reggae. When she is on holidays she helps out at the Warlukurlangu Art Centre and paints with her family. She likes to paint Janganpa Jukurrpa (Brush-tail Possum) and Marlu Jukurrpa (Kangaroo Dreaming), dreamings passed down from her father’s side and from his father’s side before him for millennia. When she’s home she also likes to go hunting with her family.
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