Corinne Nampijinpa Ryan

This Dreaming is located west of Alice Springs, between Papunya and Glen Helen Gorge. This Dreaming is from the ‘ngalyarrpa’ (sandhill) country. It tells a story from the life of Nampijinpa’s maternal grandfather, Japaljarri. Japaljarri was employed to ride alone on horseback through the sandhill country and look for ‘puluku’ (bullocks, cows) to put in yards. The job took him to many places between Nyirripi, a Warlpiri community approximately 160 km west of Yuendumu, and Coniston, a cattle station east of Yuendumu. The trip also took him through Wakulpa, an outstation to the north of Yuendumu that is situated at the base of some ‘pirli’ (hills). In Warlpiri paintings, traditional iconography is used to represent the Jukurrpa and other elements. In this painting, the sinuous lines from the upper right to lower left represent the ‘ngalyarrpa’ (sandhills). The sinuous lines from the upper left to lower right represent the tracks of various animals, including ‘nantuwu’ (horses) and ‘puluku’ (bullocks, cows). The dots enclosed within these lines show the cows trapped in the yards.