Acrylic on Linen

The site depicted in this painting is Puyurru, west of Yuendumu. In the usually dry creek beds are water soakages or naturally occurring wells. Two Jangala men, rainmakers, sang the rain, unleashing a giant storm. It travelled across the country, with the lightning striking the land. This storm met up with another storm from Wapurtali, to the west, was picked up by a ‘kirrkarlan’ (brown falcon [Falco berigora]) and carried further west until it dropped the storm at Purlungyanu, where it created a giant soakage. At Puyurru the bird dug up a giant snake, ‘warnayarra’ (the ‘rainbow serpent’) and the snake carried water to create the large lake, Jillyiumpa, close to an outstation in this country. This story belongs to Jangala men and Nangala women. In contemporary Warlpiri paintings traditional iconography is used to represent the Jukurrpa, associated sites and other elements. In many paintings of this Jukurrpa curved and straight lines represent the ‘ngawarra’ (flood waters) running through the landscape. Motifs frequently used to depict this story include small circles representing ‘mulju’ (water soakages) and short bars depicting ‘mangkurdu’ (cumulus & stratocumulus clouds).

Evelyn Nangala Robertson was born in 1986 in Alice Springs Hospital, the closest hospital to Yuendumu, a remote Aboriginal community 290 km north-west of Alice Springs in Australia. She is the daughter of Tina Napangardi Martin Robertson and grand-daughter of Shorty Jangala Robertson, both artists in their own right. Evelyn attended the local school in Yuendumu. In 2005 she moved to Nyirripi with her family and still lives there. She has worked for the Child Care Centre and the local shop and now works at the school. She is married to Kenneth Jungarrayi Martin, also an artist. She has one son, Rhys, born in 2004 from a previous relationship.

Evelyn has been painting since 2007. She mainly paints her Grandfather’s Jukurrpa stories, but also her Father’s and her Grandmother’s Jukurrpa, Dreamings which relate directly to her land, its features and the plants and animals that inhabit it. “As a little girl I use to watch My Grandmother and Mum paint and they would tell me a story about the painting, the dream-time”. Evelyn uses an unrestricted palette to develop a modern interpretation of her traditional culture.

When Evelyn is not working or painting she likes to spend time with her family and with her friends.