Lucky Nampijinpa Langdon / Women’s Dreaming

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

Lucky Nampijinpa Langdon was born in 1946 in the bush close to Yuendumu, an Aboriginal settlement located 290kms north-west of Alice Springs in the central desert of Australia. The settlement was in established in 1946, a Baptist mission was established there in 1947 and by 1955 many of the Warlpiri people had settled in the community. Lucky has lived there for most of her life and when she was little attended the local mission school as well as travelling around the country with her parents and learning about the sites in the traditional way.

Lucky has been painting with Warlukurlangu Artists since 1987. She paints her Jukurrpa stories, Dreamings that have been passed down to her by her ancestors, stories that relate directly to her traditional country, its features and the plants and animals that inhabit the land. Like most of the local women she still enjoys travelling across her country and regularly goes out hunting and collecting traditional foods.

This painting depicts Nakamarra and Napurrurla women hunting for bush foods. The sacred site associated with this Jukurrpa is represented as a circle around which the women sit. They are looking for sweet berries that are only available at certain times of the year. The ‘kirda’ (custodians) for this story are the Nakamarra/Napurrurla women and Jakamarra/Jupurrurla men.