Deborah Napaljarri Wayne / Women’s Dreaming

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

Deborah Napaljarri Wayne was born in 1976 in Yuendumu, a remote Aboriginal community 290km from Alice Springs in the NT of Australia. She is the daughter of Lee Nangala Gallagher-Wayne and the Granddaughter of Mary Napangardi Gallagher, both artists who paint with Warlukurlangu Artists art centre. She is married to Peterson Jakamarra Walker, an artist also.

Deborah went to Yarara College, an Aboriginal boarding college in Alice Springs and when she finished her schooling she returned to Yuendumu. Deborah was quite young when she first started painting for Warlukurlangu Artists Aboriginal Corporatio. She paints her grandmother’s Jukurrpa, Dreaming stories about the land, its features and animals. It was her grandmother that taught her to paint her Jukurrpa.

Deborah loves to paint and chooses black, red, grey, white, brown and green as her palette, colours that reflect the colour of the land.

This painting depicts Nakamarra and Napurrurla women hunting for bush foods. The sacred site associated with this Jukurrpa is represented as a circle around which the women sit. They are looking for sweet berries that are only available at certain times of the year. The ‘kirda’ (custodians) for this story are the Nakamarra/Napurrurla women and Jakamarra/Jupurrurla men.