Maisie Napurrurla Wayne / Desert Fringe-rush Seed Dreaming (10A)

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

Maisie Napurrurla Wayne was born in Ti-Tree, a small service town on the Stuart Highway, 193 km north from Alice Springs, in the Northern Territory of Australia. When Maisie was young she moved to Yuendumu, a remote Aboriginal community 290 north-west of Alice Springs. Maisie lived with her Grandmother. She has grown up and lived most of her life in Yuendumu, attending the local school and marrying her husband and bringing up her children. She is now a widow, but has a large family who care for her. She has two daughters, Elanore and Sara and 6 grandchildren, and 4 great grandchildren.

Maisie is an active member of the community. She works at the Women’s Centre as well as working in Mental Health with the Yuendumu Community Health Centre. She attended a mental health course, a ‘long time ago’, in Darwin and has been working in mental health ever since.

Maisie has been painting with Warlukurlangu Artists Aboriginal Corporation since 1994. She paints her Grandfather’s Jukurrpa, Dreamings passed down to her by her father and grandfather, and this father’s father for millennia. She likes painting stories associated with bush tucker dreaming such as Ngurlu Kukurrpa (Native Seed Dreaming) and Yarla Jukurrpa (Bush Potato Dreaming).

When Maisie is not painting or spending time with her family, she has siblings who live in Ali-Curung, Nyirripi and Alice Springs, she likes to go hunting for bush tucker.

This Jukurrpa belongs to women of the Nakamarra / Napurrurla subsections and to Jakamarra / Jupurrurla men. This Dreaming is associated with a place called Jaralypari, north of Yuendumu. Lukarrara (desert fringe-rush) is a grass with an edible seed. The seeds are traditionally ground on a large stone (‘ngatinyanu’) with a smaller stone (‘ngalikirri’) to make flour. This flour is mixed with water (‘ngapa’) to make damper cakes which are cooked and eaten. In Warlpiri traditional paintings iconography is used to represent the Jukurrpa, particular sites and other elements. Large concentric circles often represent the site of Jaralypari and also the seed bearing grass Lukurrara. ‘U’ shapes can depict the Karnta (women) collecting ‘lukarrara’ and straight lines are frequently used to portray seeds that fall down to the ground and are also collected by women using their ‘parrajas’ (wooden food carriers) and ‘karlangu’ (digging sticks).