Paddy Japaljarri Stewart

This painting is about a Rain Dreaming, which travelled through the country from the south, from Karlipirnpa and another Rain Dreaming belong to the Jakamarra-Jupurrurla section; coming from the north through the same country as the rain from Karlipirnpa. The country associated with this Ngapa Jukurrpa (Rain/Water Dreaming) is Mikanji, a watercourse that is usually dry, west of Yuendumu. In this creek bed there are ‘mulju’ (soakages). The custodians of this Jukurrpa are men of the Jangala/Jampijinpa skin groups, and women of the Nangala/Nampijinpa skin groups. The kurdungurlu for this Dreaming is Japaljarri. The Dreaming travelled from Puyurru, northwest of Yuendumu to a soakage in the Mikanji creek. The Rain Dreaming coming from the south, from Karlipirnpa, was a stranger. It was heavy, flooding rain. It camped at a place called Juntiparnta, which belongs to Jampijinpa. He sent out great flashes of lightning which struck the country all around Jurntiparnta. The Rain Dreaming travelling to Mikanji from Puyurru saw the rain coming from the south and unleashed a huge storm. The rain from the south weakened but continued north where he killed himself. Motifs frequently used to depict this story include concentric circles representing ‘mulju’ (water soakages), short bars or ‘U’ shapes depicting ‘mangkurdu’ (cumulus & stratocumulus clouds), zig-zag lines representing wirnpa (lightning) and ngawarra (body of water) and dots representing ngapa (rain).