Acrylic on Linen

“I started painting back in the prison in Alice Springs, with my dreaming, following my Fathers footsteps with all the stories of my Dad and grandfather and dot painting. I come from the Tanami Desert, Central Australia, my father was a very well known artist – the Nelson family are all painters. I used to watch in 1981 when my father was alive, he did dot painting – I need to keep this culture alive, the stories to tell and the dreaming. I thought I want to be a painter when I was young. On my Mothers side, I know very well too – she paints with lines, she is a very old lady in Yuendumu and I paint my Mothers side dreaming too. I know that story Star Dreaming from my Mothers side. I am the only one from my brothers and sisters now, who knows and can paint these stories – I am going to keep on doing this”.

Janganpa Jukurrpa (common brush-tail possum [Trichosurus vulpecula] Dreaming) travels all over Warlpiri country. ‘Janganpa’ are nocturnal animals that often nest in the hollows of white gum trees (‘wapunungka’). This story comes from a big hill called Mawurrji, west of Yuendumu and north of Pikilyi (Vaughan Springs). A group of ‘janganpa’ ancestors resided there. Every night they would go out in search of food. Their hunting trips took them to Wirlki and Wanapirdi, where they found ‘pamapardu’ (flying ants). They journeyed on to Ngarlkirdipini looking for water. A Nampijinpa women was living at Mawurrji with her two daughters. She gave her daughters in marriage to a Jupurrurla ‘janganpa’ but later decided to run away with them. The Jupurrurla angrily pursued the woman. He tracked them to Mawurrji where he killed them with a stone axe. Their bodies are now rocks at this place. Warlpiri people perform a young men’s initiation ceremony, which involves the Janganpa Jukurrpa. The Janganpa Jukurrpa belongs to Jakamarra/Jupurrurla men and Nakamarra/Napurrurla women. In Warlpiri paintings traditional iconography is used to represent this Jukurrpa. ‘Janganpa’ tracks are often represented as ‘E’ shaped figures and concentric circles are used to depict the trees in which the ‘janganpa’ live, and also the sites at Mawurrji.