Madeleine Napangardi Dixon / Women’s Dreaming (1A)

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

Madeleine is a Warlpiri artist who paints for Warlukurlangu Art Centre in the Northern Territory.

Warlukurlangu Artists Aboriginal Corporation of Yuendumu was incorporated in 1986. Warlukurlangu is a not for profit organisation that has more than 600 members, all of whom are Indigenous artists. It is directed by an executive committee of eight men and eight women representing all the ‘skin groups’. It meets regularly to set policy, make decisions about the organisation and direct staff.

Established in 1985 Warlukurlangu Artists Aboriginal Corporation is a not-for-profit organisation that is 100% Aboriginal-owned by its artists from the remote desert communities of Yuendumu and Nyirripi in Central Australia.

Warlukurlangu Artists is famous for its gloriously colourful acrylic paintings and limited edition prints. The art centre has a national and international profile and its art has been featured in hundreds of exhibitions and publications in Australia and around the world.

Warlukurlangu means ‘belonging to fire’ in the local language, Warlpiri, and is named for a fire dreaming site west of Yuendumu.

This ‘karntakurlangu Jukurrpa’ (women’s Dreaming) comes from Mina Mina, a very important women’s Dreaming site far to the west of Yuendumu near Lake Mackay and the WA border. The ‘kirda’ (owners) of this Dreaming are Napangardi/Napanangka women and Japangardi/Japanangka men; the area is sacred to Napangardi and Napanangka women. There are a number of ‘mulju’ (water soakages) and a ‘maluri’ (clay pan) at Mina Mina.

In the Dreamtime, ancestral women danced at Mina Mina and ‘karlangu’ (digging sticks) rose up out of the ground. As the women danced, they created a large dust cloud that swept up a number of ‘warna’ (snakes) that had been watching the women dance. This dust cloud blew the snakes away to Yaturluyaturlu, a site near the Granites. The name for this group of snakes was ‘walyankarna.’ Previously, the snakes were ‘ngarlkirdi’ (witchetty grubs); they transformed themselves from witchetty grubs into snakes at Kunajarrayi (Mt. Nicker), 200km southwest of Yuendumu. In this way, the ‘karnta Jukurrpa’ (women’s Dreaming) and ‘ngarlkirdi Jukurrpa’ (witchetty grub Dreaming) intersect. Travelling along with the witchetty grub Dreaming allowed the ancestral women to observe the witchetty grubs and learn how to best locate and cook them, skills that Warlpiri women still use today.

After dancing at Mina Mina, the women collected the ‘karlangu’ (digging sticks) that emerged from the ground and travelled on to the east, dancing, digging for bush tucker, collecting ‘ngalyipi’ (snake vine [Tinospora smilacina]), and creating many places as they went. ‘Ngalyipi’ is a rope-like creeper used as a ceremonial wrap and as a strap to carry ‘parraja’ (coolamons) and ‘ngami’ (water carriers). ‘Ngalyipi’ is also used to tie around the forehead to cure headaches, and to bind cuts.

The women stopped at Karntakurlangu, an area near Mina Mina that literally means ‘belonging to women,’ to dig for ‘jintiparnta’ (desert truffle [Elderia arenivaga]). ‘Jintiparnta’ appears in the sandhills after the winter rains. The growing fungus forces the earth above it to crack, exposing it. Women collect it, squeezing out the juice before cooking it in hot ashes. After stopping at Karntakurlangu, the women also stopped at Janyinki, Parapurnta, Kimayi, and Munyuparntiparnti, sites spanning from the west to the east of Yuendumu. This Dreaming track eventually took them far beyond Warlpiri country. The track passed through Coniston in Anmatyerre country to the east, and then went on to Alcoota and Aileron far to the northeast of Yuendumu and eventually on into Queensland.