Alfreda Nungarrayi Martin / Water Dreaming – Puyurru (2463-23)

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

Alfreda Nungarrayi Martin was born in 1978 in Alice Springs Hospital, the closest hospital to Yuendumu, a remote Aboriginal community 290 km north-west of Alice Springs in NT of Australia.

Alfreda comes from a well-established family of artists—her mother is Helen Nampijinpa Robertson, her grandfather is Shorty Jangala Robertson, and Alfreda’s step-father is Paddy Japaljarri Stewart—all well-known artists both in Australia and overseas.

Alfreda attended the local school in Yuendumu and completed her studies (Year 12) through the Northern Territory Secondary Correspondence School (now the NT Open Education Centre). As part of her studies she attended Residential School in Darwin where students attended a week of timetabled lessons with teachers for all their subjects. When she completed her studies she looked for work. One of her jobs was preparing lunch for pupils at the local school in Yuendumu.

Alfreda likes to paint, especially her father’s dreaming, Yurrampi Jukurrpa (Honey Ant Dreaming), dreamings which have been passed down to her from her father’s side and from his father’s side before him for millennia. She also likes to paint her grandfather’s dreaming, Ngapa Jukurrpa (Water Dreaming). These dreamings relate directly to the land and its features, and the plants and animals that live on it. Alfreda never married, nor has she had children of her own, however she has many nieces and nephews to play with. In 2015 she moved to Nyirripi where she now lives.

The site depicted in this painting is Pirlinyarnu (Mt. Farewell), about 165 km west of Yuendumu in the Northern Territory.

Two Jangala men, rainmakers, sang the rain, unleashing a giant storm that collided with another storm from Wapurtali at Mirawarri. A ‘kirrkarlanji’ (brown falcon [Falco berigora]) carried the storm further west from Mirawarri. The two storms travelled across the country from Karlipirnpa, a ceremonial site for the water Dreaming near Kintore that is owned by members of the Napaljarri/Japaljarri and Napanangka/Japanangka subsections. Along the way the storms passed through Juntiparnta, a site that is owned by Jampijinpa men. The storm eventually became too heavy for the falcon. It dropped the water at Pirlinyarnu, where it formed an enormous ‘maluri’ (claypan). A ‘mulju’ (soakage) exists in this place today. Whenever it rains today, hundreds of ‘ngapangarlpa’ (bush ducks) still flock to Pirlinyarnu.

In contemporary Warlpiri paintings, traditional iconography is used to represent the ‘Jukurrpa’ (Dreaming), associated sites, and other elements. In many paintings of this 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 beds.