THREE SISTERS FROM WARLUKURLANGU by Everywhen Artspace |McCulloch & McCulloch

Three Sisters from Warlukurlangu

THREE SISTERS FROM WARLURKULANGU

Cecily Napanangka Marshall

Judith Nungarrayi Martin

Valerie Napanangka Marshall

In partnership with Warlukurlangu Aboriginal Artists

Everywhen Artspace

39 Cook Street, Flinders, Vic 3929

August 26-September 19, 2023

Front: Cecily Napangka Marshall, Pikilyi Jukurrpa (Vaughan Springs Dreaming), 2023, acrylic on linen, 152 x 107 cm (detail).

Left: Judith Nungurrayi Martin, Janganpa Jukurrpa (Brushtail Possum Dreaming) –Mawurrji, 2023, acrylic on linen, 122 x 122 cm (detail).

Over pages: Landscapes and natural springs on the artists’ traditional country at Mount Doreen Station, NT.

Text © Susan McCulloch & Warlurkulangu Artists

Design ©Lisa Reidy

Images © The artists

Published by Everywhen Artspace

EXHIBITINGARTISTS

CECILYNAPANANGKAMARSHALL

JUDITHNUNGARRAYIMARTIN

VALERIENAPANANGKAMARSHALL

ANCIENTSTORIES NEWPAINTINGS

Mid-career Warlpiri artists and sisters Cecily and Valerie Napanangka Marshall and their cousin Judith Nungurrayi Martin have a close sisterly bond and often paint alongside each other in the studio of their art centre – Warlukurlangu Aboriginal Artists at Yuendumu, NT. Each has developed her own distinctive and evolving style.

Cecily and Valerie paint the Dreaming stories of the large and important creation site of Pikilyi (Vaughan Springs) – a large natural spring near Wilkinkarra (Lake Mackay), located on Mount Doreen Station in the far western desert of the NT/WA.

As well they, and their sister/cousin Judith are entitled to paint the expansive creation story of the Brush Tail Possum (Janganpa Jukurrpa) – a creation story that traverses thousands of kilometres of Warlpiri country in the Tanami Desert of NT and WA.

Cecily Marshall uses classic geometric western desert iconography to depict the ancient stories of Pikilyi springs and the rainbow serpents that inhabited it.

Judith Martin uses glowing colours and soft, lyrical brushwork to depict the vast country and creation story of the Brush Tail Possum in contemporary style.

A particularly exciting new stylistic development is evident in Valerie Napanangka Marshall’s new works in which she has left a large negative space around the images, thus highlighting them and allowing them to come to the fore.

In so doing, she harks back to the first works on canvas by her Warlipiri and Pintupi predecessors and their paintings at Yuendumu and Papunya in the late 1960s and early 1970s that have since been heralded as the birth of the contemporary desert Aboriginal art movement.

Susan McCulloch August 2023

CECILY NAPANANGKA MARSHALL

Cecily began painting with Walukurlangu Artists Aboriginal Corporation in 2008. However, it wasn’t until 2013 that Cecily began to paint full-time.

She paints her grandmother’s and grandfather’s Jukurrpa, stories that have been passed down the generations for millennia and relate directly to the land, its features and the plants and animals that inhabit it. Cecily particularly likes painting Karnta Jukurrpa (Women’s Dreaming) from her grandmother’s side and Watiya-warnu Jukurrpa (Bush Seed Dreaming) from her Grandfather’s side.

Warlpiri artist Cecily Napanangka Marshall was born in 1975 in Alice Springs Hospital, the closest hospital to Yuendumu, a remote Aboriginal community located 290 km northwest of Alice Springs. Her parents were living in Yuendumu at the time, but her mother passed away when she was young and her father moved to Mt Allan. Cecily was brought up by her Grandmother who has since died. She began her schooling in Alice Springs but attended the local school in Nyirripi when she moved in with her grandmother. Cecily is a single mum with one daughter. She has several sisters and brothers who were also raised by her Grandmother.

Cecily likes to paint with her grandmother’s sister, Phyllis Napurrurla Williams and her sister Valerie Napanangka Marshall. “I like the stories. I watch as they paint and tell me about the possum dreaming.”

When she is not painting, Cecily used to play sport, particularly basketball. These days she likes to go hunting for Yurrampi (Honey ants) and Ngarlkirdi (witchetty grubs).

Cecily’s paintings in this exhibition all depict the lands and creation stories based around an important waterhole and natural spring called Pikilyi (Vaughan Springs). Located on Mount Doreen Station (above), Pikilyi is in the far west of the Northern Territory, adjacent to Lake Mackay off the Tanami Track some 450 kilometres northwest of Alice Springs.

Pikilyi is the home of two rainbow serpents, ancestral heroes who lived together as husband 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 Dreaming belongs to the women and men of the Japanangka/Napanangka and Japangardi/Napangardi skin groups.

Cecily Napanangka Marshall, Pikilyi Jukurrpa (Vaughan Springs Dreaming), 2023, acrylic on linen, 107 x 61 cm | MM6947 | $1400

Cecily Napanangka Marshall, Pikilyi Jukurrpa (Vaughan Springs Dreaming), 2023, acrylic on linen, 76 x 76 cm | MM7022 | $1300

Cecily Napanangka Marshall, Pikilyi Jukurrpa (Vaughan Springs Dreaming), acrylic on linen, 122 x 46 cm | MM7023 | $1200

Cecily Napanangka Marshall, Pikilyi Jukurrpa (Vaughan Springs Dreaming), 2023, acrylic on linen, 107 x 61 cm | MM7038 | $1400

Cecily Napanangka Marshall, Pikilyi Jukurrpa (Vaughan Springs Dreaming), acrylic on linen, 91 x 61 cm | MM7039 | $1100

Cecily Napanangka Marshall, Pikilyi Jukurrpa (Vaughan Springs Dreaming), acrylic on linen, 91 x 46 cm | MM7040 | $790

Cecily Napanangka Marshall, Pikilyi Jukurrpa (Vaughan Springs Dreaming), 152 x 107 cm | MM7083 | $3400

JUDITH NUNGARRAYI MARTIN

Judith has been painting with the Warlukurlangu Artists Aboriginal Corporation, since 1994.

As a young child she would watch her family paint and listen to their stories.

Although her production of artwork was initially sporadic – she began to paint full time when she had her sons and daughter. “I wanted to paint the stories to teach my kids”.

Judith Nungarrayi Martin, a Warlpiri woman, was born in 1976 in Alice Springs Hospital, the closest hospital to Yuendumu, a remote Aboriginal community 290 km north-west of Alice Springs. Judith comes from a family of artists. Her mother is Helen Nampijinpa Robertson and her grandfather was the famous ‘rain dreaming’ painter, Shorty Jangala Robertson. Judith attended the local school in Yuendumu before studying at Yirara College, an Aboriginal boarding College in Alice Springs. When she finished school, she returned to Yuendumu and moved to Nyrripi in 1991 where she married a ‘Nyrripi boy’. They have 3 sons and 1 daughter.

Judith paints her father’s Jukurrpa (Dreamings), that include Janganpa Jukurrpa (Brush Tail Possum Dreaming) and Yankirri Jukurrpa (Emu Dreaming). These Dreamings have been passed down through the generations for millennia and relate directly to the land, its features and the animals and plants that inhabit it. She has exhibited in group exhibitions in Melbourne, Sydney nd Japan.

Judith uses an unrestricted palette to develop a modern interpretation of her traditional culture.

The subjects of Judith’s paintings here are all Janganpa Jukurrpa (common brush-tail possum Dreaming – a creation story that traverses thousands of kilometres of Warlpiri country in the Tanami Desert of NT and WA. Janganpa are nocturnal animals that often nest in the hollows of white gum trees (or ‘wapunungka’).

This story comes from a big hill called Mawurrji, west of Yuendumu and north of Pikilyi (Vaughan Springs) on the edge of Lake Mackay. A group of ‘janganpa’ ancestors resided there. Every night they would go out in search of food. Their hunting trips took them to Wirlki and Wanapirdi, where they found ‘pamapardu’ (flying ants).

They journeyed on to Ngarlkirdipini looking for water. A Nampijinpa woman was living at Mawurrji with her two daughters.

She gave her daughters in marriage to a Jupurrurla ‘janganpa’ but later decided to run away with them. The Jupurrurla angrily pursued the women. He tracked them to Mawurrji where he killed them with a stone axe. Their bodies are now rocks at this place. Warlpiri people perform a young mens initiation ceremony, which involves the Janganpa Jukurrpa. The Janganpa Jukurrpa belongs to Jakamarra/Jupurrurla men and Nakamarra/Napurrurla women.

In Warlpiri paintings traditional iconography is used to represent this Jukurrpa. ‘Janganpa’ tracks are often represented as ‘E’ shaped figures and concentric circles are used to depict the trees in which the ‘janganpa’ live, and also the sites at Mawurrji.

Judith Nungarrayi Martin, Janganpa Jukurrpa (Brush-tail Possum Dreaming) – Mawurrji, 2023, acrylic on linen, 107 x 91 cm | MM6945 | $1700

Judith Nungarrayi Martin, Janganpa Jukurrpa (Brush-tail Possum Dreaming) – Mawurrji, 2022, acrylic on linen, 152 x 122 cm | MM6946 | $3700

Judith Nungarrayi Martin, Janganpa Jukurrpa (Brush-tail Possum Dreaming) – Mawurrji, 2023, acrylic on linen, 122 x 122 cm | MM6950 | $2900

Judith Nungarrayi Martin, Janganpa Jukurrpa (Brush-tail Possum Dreaming) – Mawurrji, 2023, acrylic on linen. Left: MM6985 $650. Middle: MM6986 $650. Right: MM6987 $650.

ValerieNapanangkaMarshall

Valerie has been painting with Warlukurlangu Artists Corporation, Yuendumu, a remote aboriginal, since 2001.

Warlukurlangu makes regular visits to Nyirripi to drop off canvas, paint and brushes for the artists and to collect finished artwork.

Sister of Cecily Napangka Marshall, Valerie Napanangka Marshall is a Warlpiri woman born in Alice Springs. Before her birth, her parents were living at Ltyentye Apurte Community, also known as Santa Teresa an Arrernte indigenous community about 80 kilometres from Alice Springs. Shortly after her birth the family moved first to Yuendumu and then to Nyirripi where Valerie now lives. Valerie attended Kormilda College, an Aboriginal boarding college in Darwin. After she finished school, she returned to Nyirripi. She is married and has four children.

Valerie paints her father’s dreamings which are related to her land, its features and the plants and animals that inhabit it. These dreamings have been passed down through the generations for at least 50 millennia. To depict her traditional Jukurrpa, Valerie uses traditional iconography, while developing a modern individualistic style to depict her traditional Jukurrpa.

When Valerie is not working at the local store or painting, she enjoys hunting with her family.

Valerie’s paintings in this exhibition all depict the lands and creation stories based around an important waterhole and natural spring called Pikilyi (Vaughan Springs). Located on Mount Doreen Station (above), Pikilyi is in the far west of the Northern Territory, adjacent to Lake Mackay off the Tanami Track some 450 kilometres northwest of Alice Springs.

Valerie Napanangka Marshall, Pikilyi Jukurrpa (Vaughan Springs Dreaming), 2023, acrylic on linen, 122 x 122 cm | MM6940 | $2900

Valerie Napanangka Marshall, Pikilyi Jukurrpa (Vaughan Springs Dreaming), 2023, acrylic on linen, 107 x 30 cm. Left: MM6941 $650. Mid Left: MM 6942 $650. Mid Right: M6977 $650. Far Right: MM6943 $650.

Valerie Napanangka Marshall, Pikilyi Jukurrpa (Vaughan Springs Dreaming), 2023, acrylic on linen, 152 x 122 cm | MM6948 | $3600

Valerie Napanangka Marshall, Pikilyi Jukurrpa (Vaughan Springs Dreaming), 2023, acrylic on linen, 183 x 122 cm | MM6949 | $4400

Valerie Napanangka Marshall, Pikilyi Jukurrpa (Vaughan Springs Dreaming), 2023, acrylic on linen, 107 x 61 cm | MM6978 | $1300

Valerie Napanangka Marshall, Pikilyi Jukurrpa (Vaughan Springs Dreaming), 2023, acrylic on linen, 183 x 91 cm | MM6979 | $3400

Valerie Napanangka Marshall, Pikilyi Jukurrpa (Vaughan Springs Dreaming), 2023, acrylic on linen, 107 x 91 cm | MM6984 | $1650

Valerie Napanangka Marshall, Pikilyi Jukurrpa (Vaughan Springs Dreaming), 2023, acrylic on linen, 152 x 91 cm | MM7031 | $2700

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