Jill Nungarrayi Watson
Aboriginal Warlpiri woman
Jill Nungarrayi Watson was born near Tennant Creek, a small township located 500 km north of Alice Springs. 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.
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Janmarda Jukurrpa
‘Janmarda’ (Bush Onion) are small bulbs found in the soft soils on the banks of sandy creeks. One of the sites for this dreaming story is Purrupurru, near Wakurlpa to the north of Yuendumu. One day, ancestral women were collecting and cooking ‘Janmarda’ when they saw an old Jungarrayi man called Warnungurla, who had been travelling from the west. He was hiding in the bushes, watching the women wanting to make love to them. He had an enormous ‘Ngirnti’ that was long like a hose. It 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 digging sticks, killing the old man. The old man can still be seen today in the form of a large stone figure at Purrupurru.