Michael Japaljarri Wayne / Emu Dreaming – Ngarlikirlangu (1946-26)

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

Michael Japaljarri Wayne was born in 1985 in the Alice Springs Hospital, the closest hospital to Yuendumu, a remote Aboriginal community located 290 km north-west from Alice Springs in the NT of Australia He is the son of Johnny Jungarrayi and Lee Nangala Gallagher-Wayne and the grandson of Mary Napangardi Gallagher, all successful artists working with Warlukurlangu Artists. He watched his parents and grandparents paint their Jukurrpa and listened to their stories. He is married to Ritasha Nampijinpa Watson and has one son, Johnny.

He has lived in the Aboriginal Community of Yuendumu his whole life. He attended the local high school where he finished Year 8 in 2001. When he finished school he worked for the Community Development Employment Project (CDPE) and also worked on the Mt Theo Program, a successful program started by Yuendumu Community to address chronic petrol sniffing in Yuendumu.

Michael has been painting with Warlukurlangu Artists Aboriginal Corporation, an Aboriginal owned and governed art centre located in Yuendumu, since 2003. He paints his father’s Jukurrpa stories, Dreamings which related directly to his land, its features and the plants and animals that inhabit it. These stories were passed down to him by his father and his father’s father before him for millennia.

When he is not painting or working he enjoys playing football with the local Yuendumu team and hunting for goanna and kangaroo.

This painting depicts a ‘yankirri Jukurrpa’ (emu Dreaming) from a place called Ngarlikurlangu, approximately 50kms north of Yuendumu. The ‘kirda’ (owners) of this Dreaming are Nangala/Nampijinpa women and Jangala/Jampijinpa men.

This Jukurrpa tells the story of a ‘yankirri’ (emu) and a ‘wardilyka’ (bush turkey). ‘Yankirri’ lived at a soakage to the west called Warnirripanu (or Walangkamirirri), while ‘wardilyka’ lived at a soakage to the east called Parirri.

The emu and bush turkey used to go around the country picking ‘yakajirri’ (bush raisins) and mashing them into ‘kapurdu’ (fruit balls) to save in their nests for later. However, they were jealous of each other; the emu thought that the bush turkey was picking the best and juiciest ‘yakajirri’, and was leaving him with only the sour ‘yakajirri’.

The emu went to the bush turkey’s nest to the east while the bush turkey was out hunting and smashed up the ‘kapurdu’ that the bush turkey had saved there. When the bush turkey returned, he found his smashed ‘yakajirri’ balls and realized that the emu had destroyed them. He went to the west to confront the emu and when he found him, they got into a big fight. The bush turkey eventually flew away to the north, leaving behind the smashed ‘yakajirri’ balls.

This practice of making ‘kapurdu’ (fruit balls) is a traditional Warlpiri method of storing ‘yakajirri’; in the old days, people used to dry the ‘yakajirri’, grind them up with a rock in a coolamon, mix them with water and form balls from them, and cover the ‘kapurdu’ with red ochre so they would keep.

Today at Ngarlikirlangu we can see round, red rocks which are the ‘kapurdu’ that the emu smashed up. There is also a dance for this ‘yankirri’ (emu) Jukurrpa that is performed during mens’ initiation ceremonies. A number of other Jukurrpa are also located at Ngarlikirlangu, including ‘wardilyka Jukurrpa’ (bush turkey Dreaming), ‘yardijiinypa Jukurrpa’ (meat ant Dreaming), and ‘pirntina Jukurrpa’ (woma or Ramsay’s python Dreaming). Lots of ‘yakajirri’ grow around the Ngarlikirlangu area today.

In contemporary Warlpiri paintings, traditional iconography can be used to represent the Jukurrpa, associated sites, and other elements. ‘Yankirri’ are usually represented by arrow-like shapes depicting their ‘wirliya’ (footprints) as they walk around.