Leanne Nungarrayi Jurrah / Emu Dreaming (1A)

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

Leanne Nungarrayi Jurrah was born in Alice Springs Hospital, the closest hospital to Nyirripi, originally an outstation of Yuendumu but now a small community, 440km west from Alice Springs in Northern Territory. She is the granddaughter of Nancy Napananga Gibson, a well-known artist, who paints with Warlukurlangu Art Centre. Leanne attended Yirara College, an Aboriginal boarding college in Alice Springs. When she finished school, she worked for the Nyirripi Shire Office.

Leanne has been painting with Warlukurlangu Artists since 2014. She paints her Grandmother’s Yankirri Jukurrpa (Emu Dreaming) and Yankirri Ngipiri Jukurrpa (Emu Egg Dreaming), stories which relate directly to her land, its features and the plants and animals that inhabit it. She learnt to paint first at school and then by watching her family paint. She loves colour and uses an unrestricted palette to represent her country.

When Leanne is not painting, she likes to go hunting for bush food with her husband and son and extended family.

This particular site of the Yankirri Jukurrpa, (Emu Dreaming) is at Ngarlikurlangu, north of Yuendumu. The ‘yankirri’ travelled to the rockhole at Ngarlikurlangu to find water.

In contemporary Warlpiri paintings traditional iconography is used to represent the Jukurrpa, associated sites and other elements. Emus are usually represented by their ‘wirliya’ (footprints),that show them walking around Ngarlikurlangu eating ‘yakajirri’ (bush raisin – shown in this artwork). In the time of the Jukurrpa there was a fight at Ngarlikiurlangu between a ‘yankirri’ ancestor and Wardilyka (Australian bustard) ancestors over sharing the ‘yakajirri’. There is also a dance for this Jukurrpa that is performed during initiation ceremonies.