Jezebel Napanangka Presley / Bush Tomato Dreaming (7A)

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

Jezebel Napanangka Presley was born in 1986 in Alice Springs Hospital, the closest hospital to Ti-Tree, a small town in the Northern Territory, 193 km north of Alice Springs. Her mother’s country is Ti-Tree and her father’s country Willowra. Although Jezebel attended the local school in Ti-Tree she would regularly travel between the two communities, visiting family. It was in Willowra that she met her husband, and together they have now settled in Yuendumu, a remote Aboriginal community located 290 kms north-west of Alice Springs in the NT of Australia. Jezebal has 2 sisters who still live in Ti-Tree, close to their mother. Her father has passed away.

Jezebel has been painting with Warlukurlangu Artists Aboriginal Corporation, an Aboriginal owned and governed art centre located in Yuendumu, since 2016. She paints her father’s Jukurrpa (Dreamings), which were passed down to her by her Grandmother and Aunties. These stories relate directly to her land, its features and the plants and animals that inhabit it. She likes the designs and the colour and enjoys painting at the art centre each day with family and friends.

When Jezebel is not painting, she enjoys her home and is ‘house proud’ creating a clean home to share with family and friends, especially when watching TV.

The Wanakiji Jukurrpa (bush tomato Dreaming) travels through Yaturlu (near Mount Theo, north of Yuendumu). “Wanakiji” grows in open spinifex country and is a small, prickly plant with purple flowers that bears green fleshy fruit with many small black seeds.

After collecting the fruit the seeds are removed with a small wooden spoon called ‘kajalarra’. The fruit then can be eaten raw or threaded onto skewers called ‘turlturrpa’ and then cooked over a fire. ‘Wanakiji’ can also be skewered and left to dry. When they are prepared in this way it is called ‘turlturrpa’ and the fruit can be kept for a long time.

In contemporary Warlpiri paintings traditional iconography is used to represent the Jukurrpa, particular sites and other elements.