Evelyn Nampijinpa Daniels / Native Seed Dreaming (2843-07)

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

Evelyn Nampijinpa Daniels was born in 1956 in Yuendumu, a remote Aboriginal community 290km north-west of Alice Springs in the Northern Territory of Australia. She was raised in Yuendumu, and attended the local high school. Evelyn is the younger sister of Dolly Nampijinpa Daniels and they would often paint together before Dolly passed away.

Evelyn has been painting with Warlukurlangu Artists Aboriginal Corporation, an Aboriginal owned and governed Art Centre in Yuendumu, since 2001. She paints her mother’s and her father’s Jukurrpa stories, Dreamings which relate directly to her land, its features and the plants and animals that inhabit it. These stories were passed down to her by her big sister Dolly and her mother, and their parents before them for millennia. She uses an unrestricted palette to develop a modern interpretation of her traditional culture.

The Jukurrpa or dreaming is connected with a place called Jaralypari which is situated north of Yuendumu. Lukarrara is a species of Fimbristylis, a grass that produces tasty seeds in the winter time. The seeds are customarily ground on a large stone with a smaller stone to make flour to be used to make bush tucker. This flour is blended with water to make small seed cakes.