Lizzie Nungarrayi Spencer / Water Dreaming (4186-21)

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

Lizzie Nungarrayi Spencer was born in 1985 in Alice Springs Hospital, the closest hospital to Yuendumu, a remote Aboriginal community located 290 km north-west of Alice Springs in the Northern Territory of Australia. She is the daughter of Caroline Nakamarra Gibson and the grand-daughter of Nancy Napanangka Gibson, both artists working with Warlukurlangu Art Centre. Lizzie was brought up in Nyirripi, an Aboriginal community located a further 150 kms west-south-west of Yuendumu. She attended the local Primary School then moved to Alice Springs where she attended Yirara College, of the Finke River Mission, a boarding school for Indigenous students 12 years and older from remote communities. When she completed her schooling she returned to Nyirripi and worked at the Nyirripi Shop. She is married and has two boys who attend the local school. Lizzie is furthering her studies and will be working for the school soon.

Lizzie has been painting with Warlukurlangu Artists Corporation, an Aboriginal owned and governed art centre located in Yuendumu, since 2009. Warlukurlangu makes regular visits to Nyirripi to drop off canvas, paint and brushes for the artists and to collect finished artwork. Lizzie paints her father’s Wardapi (Goanna) Jukurrpa from an area to the east of Yuendumu called Yarumayi, and her Grandmother’s Mina Mina Jukurrpa, a place far to the west of Yuendumu. Lizzie likes painting, ït’s good to do painting…its very relaxing”.

When Lizzie is not painting or looking after her two boys she likes to play basketball or go hunting for goanna with her family.

The site depicted in this painting is Puyurru, west of Yuendumu. In the usually dry creek beds are ‘mulju’ (soakages), or naturally occurring wells. The ‘kirda’ (owners) for this site are Nangala / Nampijinpa women and Jangala / Jampijinpa men. Two Jangala men, rainmakers, sang the rain, unleashing a giant storm. The storm travelled across the country from the east to the west, initially travelling with a ‘pamapardu Jukurrpa’ (termite Dreaming) from Warntungurru to Warlura, a waterhole 8 miles east of Yuendumu. At Warlura, a gecko called Yumariyumari blew the storm on to Lapurrukurra and Wilpiri. Bolts of lightning shot out at Wirnpa (also called Mardinymardinypa) and at Kanaralji. At this point the Dreaming track also includes the ‘kurdukurdu mangkurdu Jukurrpa’ (children of the clouds Dreaming). The water Dreaming built hills at Ngamangama using baby clouds and also stuck long pointy clouds into the ground at Jukajuka, where they can still be seen today as rock formations.

The termite Dreaming eventually continued west to Nyirripi, a community approximately 160 km west of Yuendumu. The water Dreaming then travelled from the south over Mikanji, a watercourse with soakages northwest of Yuendumu. At Mikanji, the storm was picked up by a ‘kirrkarlanji’ (brown falcon) and taken farther north. At Puyurru, the falcon dug up a giant ‘warnayarra’ (rainbow serpent). The serpent carried water with it to create another large lake, Jillyiumpa, close to an outstation in this country. The ‘kirda’ (owners) of this story are Jangala men and Nangala women. After stopping at Puyurru, the water Dreaming travelled on through other locations including Yalyarilalku, Mikilyparnta, Katalpi, Lungkardajarra, Jirawarnpa, Kamira, Yurrunjuku, and Jikaya before moving on into Gurindji country to the north.

In contemporary Warlpiri paintings, traditional iconography is used to represent the ‘Jukurrpa’ (Dreaming). Short dashes are often used to represent ‘mangkurdu’ (cumulus & stratocumulus clouds), and longer, flowing lines represent ‘ngawarra’ (flood waters). Small circles are used to depict ‘mulju’ (soakages) and river bed.