Micah Jampijinpa Hudson / Country Around Nyirrpi (147-21ny)

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

Micah Jampijinpa Hudson was born in 1958, out bush near Mt Allan and Yuelamu community, where he grew up. There was no school there at the time, so he was sent to school in Yuendumu community. It was at school that he first tried painting. He saw his brothers and uncles painting, and learned about the famous artist Albert Namatjira, who inspired him to try landscape-style painting. He likes to “go up a hill and watch the countryside” and finds that painting helps one to look more closely at the land.

Micah is the pastor at the church in Nyirripi. He often paints Karrku, an important feature of the landscape close to Nyirripi community, as well as his mother’s country, Yarrunkanyi (Mount Hardy). Many Warlpiri people in Nyirripi combine both traditional Warlpiri and Christian beliefs, and view the significance of sacred dreaming sites around Nyirripi as blended with the biblical stories of God’s promised land. Micah paints to communicate the unique beauty of the country he lives on, and says he is “trying to make the paintings look like paradise”. He has a strong emotional connection with the creation of his paintings and says, “we should rejoice when we paint.”

This painting depicts the natural landscape around Nyirrpi, a small Warlpiri community (originally an outstation) about 160km west of Yuendumu. About 200 people live in Nyirrpi today. The bush around Nyirrpi features plenty of ‘watiya’ (trees), ‘marna’ (grass), ‘kuyu’ (animals) to hunt, and ‘miyi’ (edible plants) to gather.

There are a number of beautiful natural features close to Nyirrpi, including sandhills, soakages, and Karrku (Mt. Stanley), a large flat-topped hill that is an important source of red ochre used during ceremonies. There are also a number of small outstations around Nyirrpi. These include Wayililinpa, Yinjirimardi, Karrinyarra (Mt. Wedge), Nginyirripalangu, and many more.

Many sites around Nyirrpi are associated with different ‘Jukurrpa’ (Dreamings). These sites include Karrku, which is associated with a ‘karnta Jukurrpa’ (womens’ Dreaming) and a ‘ngalyipi Jukurrpa’ (snake vine Dreaming). In the Jukurrpa, two women of the Napaljarri skin subsection threw a hairstring rope around Karrku and tried to pull it down.

Other Jukurrpa around Nyirrpi include the ‘warna Jukurrpa’ (snake Dreaming) that travels north from Kunajarrayi (Mt. Nicker), the ‘maliki Jukurrpa’ (dog Dreaming) associated with Winijardu, a hill, and the ‘marlu Jukurrpa’ (kangaroo Dreaming) that travels from north to south past Nyirrpi. There is also a ‘pamapardu Jukurrpa’ (termite Dreaming) and ‘mukaki Jukurrpa’ (bush plum Dreaming) associated with Warntungurru, a hill close to Nyirrpi. This ‘pamapardu Jukurrpa’ (termite Dreaming) travels from Wapurtali (Mt. Singleton) in the west to Warntungurru.

The Jukurrpa sites around Nyirrpi are all owned and cared for by different skin subsections. Some people are ‘kirda’ (owners) of the Jukurrpa, and others are ‘kurdungurlu’ (custodians).

In Warlpiri paintings, traditional iconography can be used to represent the landscape around Nyirrpi, the Jukurrpa, and other elements. Paintings of Jukurrpa around Nyirrpi can include wavy lines that are used to represent the ‘ngalyipi’ (snake vine), dashed lines used to represent the ‘pamapardu’ (termites), and concentric circles used to represent waterholes or ‘mingkirri’ (termite mounds).