Bethany Nakamarra Langdon / Brush-tail Possum Dreaming – Mawurrji (1653-26)

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

“I love all the different colours and how you make patterns and create three-dimensional artwork.”

Bethany Nakamarra Langdon was born in Yuendumu in 1989. When she was little she moved with her mother Charlotte Langdon and her step-father Joseph Egger (Austrian) to Alice Springs. Bethany went to school in Alice Springs where her favourite subject was Art. When she finished school she moved back to Yuendumu and found work at the local swimming pool. In Yuendumu she met Shaun Wilson and they have been together since 2008. They have a daughter and a son as well as Bethany’s eldest daughter, Alice, from a previous relationship.

Although Bethany learnt art at school, she was taught dot painting by her Grandmother, Maggie Napaljarri Ross, a prolific painter with Warlukurlangu Artists since 1987 and her Mother, Charlotte Napanangka Langdon who also painted with the art centre for several years. Her maternal and paternal Grandmothers taught her all about her mother’s and father’s Dreaming.

Bethany has been painting with Warlukurlangu Artists Art Corporation since 2005. She paints her mother’s dreaming stories relating to Mount Theo which include Yarla Jukurrpa (Bush Potato) and Yurrampi Jukurrpa (Honey Ant Dreaming); and her Father’s dreaming which includes Kangaroo Dreaming and Pamapardu Jukurrpa (Flying Ant Dreaming).

When Bethany is not painting and looking after her children, she likes to travel to visit her family, especially her step-father’s family in Victoria and her Mum, who lives in South Australia.

‘Janganpa’ or brush tail possums are nocturnal animals that live and nest in white gum trees. Janganpa Jukurrpa (common brush-tail possum Dreaming) travels all over Warlpiri country. This story is about a group of “janganpa” from a big hill called Mawurrji, west of Yuendumu and north of Pikilyi (Vaughan Springs). The family of ‘janganpa’ ancestors lived there. Each night they would go out in hunting forf food. They went to Wirlki and Wanapirdi, where they found ‘pamapardu’ (flying ants). They travelled on to Ngarlkirdipini looking for water. A Nampijinpa women was living at Mawurrji with her two daughters. She gave her daughters in marriage to a Jupurrurla ‘janganpa’ but later decided to run away with them. The Jupurrurla furiously ran after the women. He pursued them to Mawurrji where he killed them with a stone axe. Their bodies are now rocks at this place.

Warlpiri people perform a young men’s initiation ceremony, which involves the Janganpa Jukurrpa. The Janganpa Jukurrpa belongs to Jakamarra / Jupurrurla men and Nakamarra / Napurrurla women. In Warlpiri paintings traditional iconography is used to represent this Jukurrpa. ‘Janganpa’ tracks are often represented as ‘E’ shaped figures and concentric circles are used to depict the trees in which the ‘janganpa’ live, and also the sites at Mawurrji.