Peggy Nampijinpa Brown / Fire Country Dreaming (1962-23)

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

Peggy Nampijinpa Brown was born in 1941 in the bush close to Yuendumu. When she was a little girl her family moved to Yuendumu, an Aboriginal settlement 290 kms north-west of Alice Springs in the NT of Australia.

Peggy has been an important member of the Yuendumu Community. She participated in several organization such as the Women Night Patrol, the Mt Theo Petrol Sniffing Program, The Women Center, Warlpiri Media and of course Warlukurlangu Artists Aboriginal Association. Her participation and powerful persona has made her a women respected by all members of the Yuendumu community. In 2007 she was the recipient of the Order of the Australia Medal for her work in the successful Petrol sniffing program. The Yuendumu Petrol Sniffing program has served as a standard and been a replication for other communities with Petrol Sniffing problems.

Peggy has been painting with Warlukurlangu Artists Aboriginal Corporation, an Aboriginal owned and governed art centre located in Yuendumu, since 1988. She paints several Jukurrpa (dreamings) but the one that features constantly is her country Warlukurlangu Jukurrpa (Fire Country Dreaming), country south-west of Yuendumu for which Jampijinpa/Jangala men and Nampijinpa/Nangala women have custodial responsibility.

The site depicted in this painting is Puyurru, west of Yuendumu. In the usually dry creek beds are ‘mulju’ (soakages), or naturally occurring wells. The ‘kirda’ (owners) for this site are Nangala / Nampijinpa women and Jangala / Jampijinpa men. Two Jangala men, rainmakers, sang the rain, unleashing a giant storm. The storm travelled across the country from the east to the west, initially travelling with a ‘pamapardu Jukurrpa’ (termite Dreaming) from Warntungurru to Warlura, a waterhole 8 miles east of Yuendumu. At Warlura, a gecko called Yumariyumari blew the storm on to Lapurrukurra and Wilpiri. Bolts of lightning shot out at Wirnpa (also called Mardinymardinypa) and at Kanaralji. At this point the Dreaming track also includes the ‘kurdukurdu mangkurdu Jukurrpa’ (children of the clouds Dreaming). The water Dreaming built hills at Ngamangama using baby clouds and also stuck long pointy clouds into the ground at Jukajuka, where they can still be seen today as rock formations.

The termite Dreaming eventually continued west to Nyirripi, a community approximately 160 km west of Yuendumu. The water Dreaming then travelled from the south over Mikanji, a watercourse with soakages northwest of Yuendumu. At Mikanji, the storm was picked up by a ‘kirrkarlanji’ (brown falcon) and taken farther north. At Puyurru, the falcon dug up a giant ‘warnayarra’ (rainbow serpent). The serpent carried water with it to create another large lake, Jillyiumpa, close to an outstation in this country. The ‘kirda’ (owners) of this story are Jangala men and Nangala women. After stopping at Puyurru, the water Dreaming travelled on through other locations including Yalyarilalku, Mikilyparnta, Katalpi, Lungkardajarra, Jirawarnpa, Kamira, Yurrunjuku, and Jikaya before moving on into Gurindji country to the north.

In contemporary Warlpiri paintings, traditional iconography is used to represent the ‘Jukurrpa’ (Dreaming). Short dashes are often used to represent ‘mangkurdu’ (cumulus & stratocumulus clouds), and longer, flowing lines represent ‘ngawarra’ (flood waters). Small circles are used to depict ‘mulju’ (soakages) and river bed.