Curtis Jampijinpa Fry / Emu Dreaming

Product Description

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

 Curtis Jampijinpa Fry was born in Yuendumu in 1964. His parents passed away when he was young. The late senior artist and lawman Shorty Jangala Robertson ‘brought him up’ and his sister Helen Nampijinpa Robertson and Thomas Jangala Rice are his family now. They are well-known artists working with Warlukurlangu Artists. Curtis attended the local Yuendumu school.

After leaving school Curtis joined a band and later joined the Broadcasting team for PAW Media, one of eight remote Indigenous Media Organisations in Australia. Curtis is a legendary musician and long-time broadcaster at PAW. His daily Curtis Fry Show has a loyal fan base and showcases local Yapa music including classics from Curtis “Spunky Monkey” Fry himself. Curtis is a unique radio talent. He has undertaken media training in Darwin as well as locally. He can be seen in action on the PAW Radio recruitment video of 2011.

Curtis has been painting with Warlukurlangu Artists since 2002. He paints his father’s Jukurrpa stories, stories which relate directly to his land, its features and the plants and animals that inhabit it. These stories were passed down to him by his father and his father’s father before them for millennia. Curtis uses traditional designs and icons with an unrestricted palette to develop a modern interpretation of his traditional culture.

This particular site of the Emu Dreaming is at Ngarlikurlangu, north of Yuendumu. The emu travelled to the rockhole at Ngarlikurlangu to find water. This Dreaming (Jukurrpa) story belongs to Jangala / Jampijinpa men and Nangala / Nampijinpa women. In contemporary Warlpiri paintings traditional iconography is used to represent the Dreaming, associated sites and other elements. Emus are usually represented by their footprints, arrow-like shapes that show them walking around Ngarlikurlangu eating ‘yakajirri’ (bush raisin). In the time of the Dreaming there was a fight at Ngarlikiurlangu between an emu ancestor and Wardilyka (Australian bustard) ancestor over sharing the bush raisin. There is also a dance for this Dreaming that is performed during initiation ceremonies.