Acrylic on Linen

‘Janmarda’ (bush onion [Cyperus bulbosus]) are small bulbs found in the soft soils on the banks of sandy creeks. One of the main sites for this Jukurrpa is Purrupurru near Wakurlpa, to the north of Yuendumu. The custodians of that site and story are Napaljarri/Nungarrayi women and Japaljarri/Jungarrayi men. The women were collecting and cooking ‘janmarda’ when they saw an old Jungarrayi called Warungurla who had been traveling from the west. He was hiding in the bushes, watching the women and wanting to make love to them. He had an enormous ‘ngirnti’ (penis) that was long like a hose and that entered the ground and came up near to the women. They were frightened of him and tried to hide. When they saw his ‘ngirnti’ they beat it with their ‘karlangu’ (digging sticks), killing the old Jungarrayi, who can still be seen today in the form of a large stone figure at Purrupurru.

Biography

Maggie Napangardi Williams was born in 1958 in Willowra, a remote Aborigiinal community, 339kms north west of Alice Springs. She grew up in Willowra, attending the local school and spending her childhood in the surrounding country learning about her land, her culture and her law through her Jukurrpas … her Dreamings.

Maggie Napangardi has been painting in Yuendumu, 162 kms south of Willowra, since 2014. Maggie paints her Janmarda Jukurrpa (Bush Onion Dreaming); Jarli Jukurrpa (Frog Dreaming); Walpajirri Jukurrpa (Bilby Dreaming) – Nyariku; Karnta Jukurrpa (Women’s Dreaming); and Kanta Jukkurrpa (Bush Coconut Dreaming – Puturlu), 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 parents and grandparents and their parents before them for millennia.

When Maggie visits Yuendumu to see family and friends. “We get together and as we paint we all tell stories.” She also visits the Art Centre to drop off paintings and collect canvas and paint to take back to Willowra.