The Dream before the Art

Jitilypuru Jukurrpa by Sylvaria Napurrurla Walker. The original painting is available for purchase on our ART page.

In her life as an artist Sylvaria Napurrurla Walker stands in a family tradition of reputed Utopian painters. The Red Mallee Dreaming she inherited from her grandmother Topsy Pwerle Jones, who along with her aunt Joycelyn Petyarre Jones influenced Sylvaria's evocative feathery compositional style.

The Jitilypuru, or Red Mallee flower is a Eucalyptus species found in arid areas of the desert, and used by the Aboriginals as a sweetener (Eucalyptus rhodantha (Rose Mallee). It is a plant with few yet long-living flowers, lasting 20-30 days and daily producing large amount of nectar. Flowering occurs between March and November, peaking in the winter months of June to August. 

The colour and scale dynamics in this painting beautifully convey the delight of this vibrant, fragrant flower in the arid Australian desert landscape, and through its image the artist expresses her and her community's connection with Country, with its bright sweet gifts.

Photo credit: www.malleenativeplants.com.au

Red Malee Dreaming by Sylvaria Napurrurla Walker, detail.

 Dreamtime is the English translation of the word Jukurrpa, with a meaning encompassing the creation myths and transmitted memories of the Australian Aboriginal people, an immemorial expressive tradition. Jukurrpa is so intrinsically connected with this 40,000 year old community's history and wisdom that the most accurate way of translating it has been to allude to our sense of the formative intangible experience, memory, the divine, the imagination, the dream that inspires creation.

"Our Art is born from the dreams of each artist and the intense colours we see in our land... Through dreams, we can enter the other – parallel – world, in which since creation, gods, spirits and men have lived together." **

Every artist has a Dreaming, which they will interpret throughout their life, enjoying their connection to their dream and the keys they hold to community life.

Red Malee Dreaming by Sylvaria Napurrurla Walker, detail.

** Quoted from the excellent documentary The Men of the Fifth World:

The aboriginal culture of Australia, includes a large number of tribes inhabiting the oceanic continent before the arrival of the white man. But all that rich culture is doomed to survive in stocks in which its people are destined to extinction.

Australian Aboriginal Women Artists

The voices of the amazing Australian Aboriginal women artists we represent, the sale of their artwork & the My Country Interiors collection means their communities earn crucial revenue streams.

This allows them to gain independence, access to health care, maintain their origins, cultural heritage and connection with the land.

Through their roles as artists they are expanding the global awareness of an ancient culture in contemporary times. The artist communities we represent are made up of men and women, who have distinct but equally valuable stories to tell and paint of their people and country & it is our privilege to share them and give them a platform. 

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