Ngurlu Jukurrpaby Dorothy Napurrurla Dickson

This Dreaming belongs to the Nakamarra and Napurrurla women and the Jakamarra and Japurrurla men. The Dreaming is associated with a place called Jaralypari, to the north of Yuendumu. Lukarrara is a species of grass that bears edible seeds in the winter time. The seeds are traditionally ground on a large stone called Puturlu with a smaller stone called Ngalikirri to make flour. This flour is mixed with water to make small seed cakes. In contemporary Warlpiri paintings traditional iconography is used to represent the Jukurrpa, particular sites and other elements. Large concentric circles are used to represent Jaralypari and dots surrounding these circles are often depicting the Ngurlu.

Artist:Dorothy Napurrurla Dickson
Title:Ngurlu Jukurrpa
ID:3496/21
Medium:Acrylic on Canvas
Size:30 x 30 cm
Region:Yuendumu, Central Australia

Artist

Dorothy Napurrurla Dickson was born in 1965 in Alice Springs Hospital, the closest hospital to Yuendumu, a remote Aboriginal community 290 km north-west of Alice Springs in the NT of Australia. She grew up in Yuendumu with her grandmother and her siblings. Dorothy attended the local school before going to Yirara College, an Aboriginal boarding college in Alice Springs. After graduation Dorothy returned to Yuendumu and worked at the Outback Store.

Dorothy Napurrurla has been painting with Warlukurlangu Artists Aboriginal Corporation, an Aboriginal owned and governed art centre located in Yuendumu, since 2010. She paints her father’s and Grandpa’s Lukarrara Jukurrpa (Desert Fringe-rush Seed Dreaming), stories that relate directly to her land, its features and the plants and animals that inhabit it. These stories were passed down to her by her family and their ancestors before them for millennia. As an artist, Dorothy likes painting her Ngurlu (bushseed).

When Dorothy is not painting, she enjoys spending time with her three grown-up children and hunting for Ngarlkirdi (Witchetty Grubs) and Yurrampi (Honey Ants) with her friends.

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