Daphne Napurrurla White / Snake Dreaming (2A)

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

Daphne Napurrurla White was born in 1981 in Alice Springs Hospital, the closest hospital to Yuendumu, a remote Aboriginal community 290 km north-west of Alice Springs in the NT of Australia. She has lived most of her life in Yuendumu, however, moved to Nyirripi, an Aboriginal community, that began as an outstation of Yuendumu, in 2010. Nyirripi is located a further 150 km south-west of Yuendumu. In late 2013 Daphne moved to Alice Springs, where she is now living.

Daphne has been painting on and off for Warlukurlangu Artists Aboriginal Corporation; an Aboriginal owned and governed Art Centre, since 1997. She mainly paints her Father’s Jukurrpa, in particular Yurrampi Jukurrpa (Honey Ant Dreaming) and Warna Jukurrpa (Snake Dreaming).These dreamings relate directly to the land, its features and the plants and animals that inhabit it. They were passed down to her father by his father and his father’s father before him for millennia. Daphne uses traditional designs and icons with an unrestricted palette to develop a modern interpretation of her traditional culture.

The place depicted in this painting, Ngama, is located south of Yuendumu in the Northern Territory. This story describes the journey of Yarripiri, an ancestral ‘warna’ (snake). He travelled from Wirnparrku near Mt. Liebig to Yimparlu, and continued its way through the territories of Ngapanangka-jarra, Warlajirryi, Kurnmundu, Yinyirrinyi on to Ngama. Later Yarripiri travelled further north via Mijirlparnta (Mission Creek) and right through to the top end of Australia.Yarripiri was very sad as his family had left him behind at Wirnparrku. He was blind and crippled but he was determined to follow and search them out. He had to be carried. This was the job undertaken by the ‘kurdungurlu’ (ceremonial police) of the Dreaming: the Nangala/Nampijinpa women and Jangala/Jampijinpa men. Where Yarripiri’s tail slumped and touched the ground creeks were formed, such as Mijirlparnta, west of Yuendumu. Yarripiri tracks and paths are often represented by arc shapes or curved lines depicted across the canvas.