Henry Jampijinpa Spencer / Goanna Dreaming – Yarripilangu (3744-24)

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

Henry Junior Jampijinpa Spencer was born in Alice Springs Hospital, the closest hospital to Yuendumu, a remote Aboriginal community located 290 kms north-west of Alice Springs in the NT of Australia. Henry was born into a family of artists­, his mother is Rahab Nungarayi Spencer, his Aunty is Ruth Napaljarri Spencer and his grandfathers Paddy Japaljarri Stewart (the chairman for the Warlukurlangu Artists Committee) and Shorty Jangala Robertson. All are exceptional artists and have had their paintings exhibited in Australia and overseas. Henry is married and has one boy Sherman.

Henry attended the local Yuendumu School before completing his studies at Yirara College, an Aboriginal boarding college in Alice Springs. After leaving school he worked for the Warlukurlangu Art Centre preparing canvases.

In 2012 Henry began painting with Warlukurlangu Artists Aboriginal Corporation, an Aboriginal owned and governed art centre located in Yuendumu. He paints both his father’s and mother’s jukurrpa, Dreamings passed down through the generations for millennia.

When Henry is not painting or helping out at the Art Centre he is playing football. While at school he represented Yirara College and now plays for the Yuendumu Magpies football team, playing in the Central Australian Football League (CAFL). His football has taken him to towns and cities in the NT, SA and Victoria.

The painting and story for the Wardapi Jukurrpa (Goanna Dreaming) comes from an area to the east of Yuendumu called Yarumayi, a place important for its ochre deposits and as a site for collecting ceremonial stones. The custodians of the Wardapi Jukurrpa are Nungarrayi and Napaljarri women and Jungarrayi and Japaljarri men. This Painting depicts Wardapi ancestors returning home to this sacred site. It tells also of the return of the custodians of this Dreaming to collect ceremonial stones that represent the Ngipiri (eggs) of the Wardapi ancestors in their ceremonies.