Ngapa Jukurrpa (Water Dreaming) – Pirlinyarnu

The site depicted in this painting is Pirlinyarnu (Mt. Farewell), about 165 km west of Yuendumu. The kirda (owners) for the Water Dreaming site at Pirlinyarnu are Nangala/Nampijinpa women and Jangala/Jampijinpa men. Two Jangala men, rainmakers, sang the rain, unleashing a giant storm that collided with another storm from Wapurtali at Mirawarri. A kirrkarlanji (brown falcon [Falco berigora]) carried the storm further west from Mirawarri. The two storms travelled across the country from Karlipirnpa, a ceremonial site for the Water Dreaming near Kintore that is owned by members of the Napaljarri/Japaljarri and Napanangka/Japanangka subsections. Along the way, the storms passed through Juntiparnta, a site that is owned by Jampijinpa men. The storm eventually became too heavy for the falcon. It dropped the water at Pirlinyarnu, where it formed an enormous maluri (claypan). A mulju (soakage) exists in this place today. Whenever it rains today, hundreds of ngapangarlpa (bush ducks) still flock to Pirlinyarnu.

 

Sabrina Nangala Robertson is the daughter of the acclaimed artist Dorothy Napangadi. Sabrina grew up in Yuendumu and went to the local school. She now alternates between living in Yuendumu and Mparntwe. She has been painting with Warlukurlangu Artists since 2005. She paints her father’s Jukurrpa or Dreaming, stories passed down to her by her father and her father’s father before her for millennia. These stories relate to her traditional land, Pirlinyarnu (Mt Farewell), its features and the plants and animals that inhabit it.