Ngurlu Jukurrpa (Native Seed Dreaming) 4735/22 (A)

Nakamarra/Napurrurla women and Jakamarra/Jupurrurla men. The Jukurrpa is associated with a place called Jaralypari, north of Yuendumu. Lukarrara is a species of Fimbristylis, a grass that bears edible seeds in the winter-time. The seeds are traditionally ground on a large stone (‘puturlu’) with a smaller stone (‘ngalikirri’) to make flour. This flour is mixed with water (‘ngapa’) to make small seed cakes. In contemporary Warlpiri paintings traditional iconography is used to represent the Jukurrpa, particular sites and other elements. In paintings of this Jukurrpa large concentric circles are used to represent Jaralypari and dots surrounding these circles are often depicting the ‘ngurlu’.

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Geraldine Napururrla Langdon was born in 1968 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 is the daughter of Amy Napaljarri Dixon, and the Granddaughter of Liddy Napanangka Walker (1925-2017), a major Warlpiri artist. She spent her early childhood in Alice Springs and went to the local school. When she was sixteen she moved to Yuendumu and completed her schooling at Yuendumu Secondary School. She is married to Jimmy Langdon and has 2 boys and 2 girls. Geraldine began painting with the Warlukurlangu Artists Aboriginal Corporation, an Aboriginal owned and governed art centre located in Yuendumu, in 1996. She paints her father’s Janganpa Jukurrpa (Bushtail Possum) – Mawurrji; Lukarrara Jukurrpa (Desert Fringe-rush Seed Dreaming) and Yarla Jukurrpa (Bush Potato Dreaming), ‘dreamings’ related directly to her land, its features and the plants and animals that inhabit it. These stories have been passed down by her father and his father, through the generations for millennia. “When I’m sitting down painting my ‘dreamings’, I feel contented. My ‘dreamings’ make me happy.” Geraldine likes working with colour and patterns and uses an unrestricted palette to develop a modern interpretation of her traditional culture. When she’s not painting, she likes to go out bush hunting, especially for honey ants.