Janmarda Jukurrpaby Jill Nungarrayi Watson

This beautiful small artwork uses traditional ochre colours to depict Bush Onion an Aboriginal bush tucker source. The "Janmarda" are small bulbs found in the soft soil on the banks of sandy creeks. One of the main sites for this Jukurrpa is Purrupurru which is near Wakurlpa, to the north of Yuendumu (a remote Aboriginal community). The custodians of that site and story are the Napaljarri/Nungarrayi women and the Japaljarri/Jungarrayi men. The women were collecting and cooking Janmarda when they saw an old Jungarrayi called Warungurla, who had been travelling from the west. He was hiding in the bushes, watching the women and wanting to make love to them. He had an enormous "ngirnti" (penis) that was long like a hose and that entered the ground and came up near the women. They were frightened of him and tried to hide. When they saw his ngirnti they beat it with their Karlangu, killing the old Jungarrayi, who can still be seen today in the form of a large stone figure at Purrupurru.

Artist:Jill Nungarrayi Watson
Title:Janmarda Jukurrpa
ID:3757-16
Medium:Acrylic on Canvas
Size:46 x 46 cm
Region:Yuendumu, Central Australia

Artist

Jill Nungarrayi Watson was born near Tennant Creek, a small township located 500 km north of Alice Springs. When her grandfather died, her family moved to Lajamanu where she went to school. She later moved to Yirara College, a coeducational, Years 7 to 10, Indigenous residential School in Alice Springs. In 1983 she married Lawrence Jangala Watson and shortly after they moved to Yuendumu, a remote Aboriginal community located 290 km north-west of Alice Springs in the NT of Australia. She has 4 children, three sons and one daughter. Her second son is a Yuendumu Police aid. Jill worked at the local Centre link office for 12 years, working from 1994 to 2010. She has been painting with Warlukurlangu Artists Aboriginal Corporation, an Aboriginal owned and governed art centre located in Yuendumu, since 1992. She paints her father’s Jukurrpa stories, Dreamings which relate directly to her land, its features and animals. These stories have been passed down to her from her Grandmother and Grandfather and their parents before them for millennia. Jill has exhibited in Group Exhibitions in Florida, USA; Osaka, Japan; and Alice Springs, Australia. When she’s not painting she likes to go hunting for Bush tucker and taking her Aunty, Judy Napangardi Watson, goanna hunting.

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