Agnes Nampijinpa Brown / Water Dreaming – Puyurru (1A)

Artwork is accompanied by Warlukurlangu Artists (Yuendumu) Art Centre Certificate of Authenticity/Provenance

“I like painting the designs of my country, they are colourful and uplifting and they make me think about my Father. He used to tell me his stories when I was a little girl.”

Agnes Nampijinpa Brown was born in 1973 in Nyirripi, a remote Aboriginal community approximately 450km north-west of Alice Springs in the NT of Australia. She spends her time living between Nyirripi and Yuendumu, an Aboriginal community located 160km south-east of Nyirripi. Both her parents are deceased. Agnes attended the Yuendumu School, finishing Year 12. She then returned to Nyirripi where she worked at the store. Agnes stopped working when she married. She has two daughters and one son. She is also a grandmother and has two grandkids, a boy and a girl. She now works for the Aged Care Program in Nyirripi.

Agnes has been working with the Warlukurlangu Artists Aboriginal Corporation since 2007. She paints her father’s Jukurrpa stories, the Yankirri Jukurrpa (Emu Dreaming) and the Pamapardu Jukurrpa (Flying Ant Dreaming) that relate directly to her father’s country around Mikanji, found west of Yuendumu and Walungurru south-west of Nyirripi. These stories have been passed down over the generations for Millennia. Agnes lives with her family and loves painting.

The site depicted in this painting is Puyurru, west of Yuendumu. In the usually dry creek beds are ‘mulju’ (soakages), or naturally occurring wells. The ‘kirda’ (owners) for this site are Nangala / Nampijinpa women and Jangala / Jampijinpa men. Two Jangala men, rainmakers, sang the rain, unleashing a giant storm. The storm travelled across the country from the east to the west, initially travelling with a ‘pamapardu Jukurrpa’ (termite Dreaming) from Warntungurru to Warlura, a waterhole 8 miles east of Yuendumu. At Warlura, a gecko called Yumariyumari blew the storm on to Lapurrukurra and Wilpiri. Bolts of lightning shot out at Wirnpa (also called Mardinymardinypa) and at Kanaralji. At this point the Dreaming track also includes the ‘kurdukurdu mangkurdu Jukurrpa’ (children of the clouds Dreaming). The water Dreaming built hills at Ngamangama using baby clouds and also stuck long pointy clouds into the ground at Jukajuka, where they can still be seen today as rock formations.

The termite Dreaming eventually continued west to Nyirripi, a community approximately 160 km west of Yuendumu. The water Dreaming then travelled from the south over Mikanji, a watercourse with soakages northwest of Yuendumu. At Mikanji, the storm was picked up by a ‘kirrkarlanji’ (brown falcon) and taken farther north. At Puyurru, the falcon dug up a giant ‘warnayarra’ (rainbow serpent). The serpent carried water with it to create another large lake, Jillyiumpa, close to an outstation in this country. The ‘kirda’ (owners) of this story are Jangala men and Nangala women. After stopping at Puyurru, the water Dreaming travelled on through other locations including Yalyarilalku, Mikilyparnta, Katalpi, Lungkardajarra, Jirawarnpa, Kamira, Yurrunjuku, and Jikaya before moving on into Gurindji country to the north.

In contemporary Warlpiri paintings, traditional iconography is used to represent the ‘Jukurrpa’ (Dreaming). Short dashes are often used to represent ‘mangkurdu’ (cumulus & stratocumulus clouds), and longer, flowing lines represent ‘ngawarra’ (flood waters). Small circles are used to depict ‘mulju’ (soakages) and river bed.