Sharlene Nakamarra Nelson, Yarla Jukurrpa, 30x30cm

• Artist - Sharlene Nakamarra Nelson  
• Community - Yuendumu  
• Art Centre/Community organisation - Warlukurlangu Artists Aboriginal Corporation  
• Catalogue number - 2855/15   
• Materials - Acrylic on pre-stretched canvas  
• Size(cm) - H30 W30 D3.5  
• Postage variants - Artwork posted stretched  

This Yarla Jukurrpa belongs to men of the Japaljarri/Jungarrayi subsections and to Napaljarri/Nungarrayi women. It comes from an area to the east of Yuendumu called Cockatoo Creek. ‘Yarla’ (bush potato [Ipomea costata]) are fibrous tubers that grow beneath a low spreading plant, found by looking for cracks in the ground. This edible tuber grows from ‘yartura’ (roots) which seek out moisture to spout new plants. Yarla are good to eat, when cooked they are really soft and tasty. The Jukurrpa tells of ‘yarla’ and ‘wapirti’ (bush carrot [Vigna lanceolata]) ancestors fighting a big battle in this area. The specific site associated with this painting is a ‘mulju’ (water soakage) called Ngarparapunyu. In contemporary Warlpiri paintings traditional iconography is used to represent the Jukurrpa, associated sites and other elements. The curved lines of the ‘kuruwarri’ (ceremonial designs) represent the ‘ngamarna’ (vine-like tendrils) from which grow ‘jinjirla’ (flowers). ‘Karlangu’ (digging sticks) are usually represented as strait lines. ‘Karlangu’are used by women to dig for bush tucker like Yarla and Wapirti which are found underground.

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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