Acrylic on linen

Pikilyi is a large and important waterhole and natural spring near Mount Doreen station. Pikilyi Jukurrpa (Vaughan Springs Dreaming) tells of the home of two rainbow serpents, ancestral heroes who lived together as man and wife. The woman ‘rainbow serpent’ was of the Napanangka skin group, the man was a Japangardi. This was a taboo relationship contrary to Warlpiri religious law. Women of the Napanangka and Napangardi subsection sat by the two serpents, picking lice off them. For this service, the two serpents allowed the women to take water from the springs at Pikilyi. This was because the serpents were the ‘kirda’, or ceremonial owners, for that country. The spirits of these two rainbow serpents are still at Pikilyi today. This Dreamings belongs to the women and men of the Japanangka/Napanangka and Japangardi/Napangardi skin groups.

Gracie Napangardi Butcher Formerly Florrie Napangardi Jones was born in 1967 in Yuendumu, a remote community located 290 km north-west of Alice Springs in the Northern Territory of Australia. When young, Florrie moved to Alice Springs with her family. She attended Yirara College in Alice Springs and the Institute for Aboriginal Development (Aboriginal Corporation) where she studied Spoken and Written English. Florrie began painting in 1987 but it wasn’t until 2008, when she returned to Yuendumu to be near her family that she began painting full time. Both her sister Mary Napangardi Butcher and her Aunty Daisy Napanangka Nelson (1930 – 2001) are well-known artists and together they would often paint on the same piece of artwork. Florrie paints her Pikilyi Jukurrpa stories – Pikilyi is a sacred water hole that never dries out. These Dreamings depict country and describe journeys across the land, its features and the plants and animals that inhabit it. These stories were passed down to her from her father’s side and have been passed down for millennia. Florrie loves to paint as it connects her to her culture. When she is not painting she looks after her daughter and spends time with her family.