Ricardo Jampijinpa Gallagher / Emu Dreaming (543-21ny)

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

Ricardo Jampijinpa Gallagher was born in Alice Springs Hospital in 2001, the closest hospital to Nyirripi, a remote aboriginal community located approximately 430 km from Alice Springs in the Northern Territory of Australia. He is the son of Sabrina Nungarrayi Gibson and the grandson of Mary Napangardi Gallagher, major Warlpiri artists in Australia and overseas. He goes to the Kardinia International College in Geelong, Victoria and enjoys acting and Studio Art. He has two sisters and one brother.

When home visiting family during the school holidays,Ricardo continues the family tradition of artists, painting for Warlukurlangu Artists Aboriginal Corporation, an Aboriginal owned and governed art centre located in Yuendumu and Nyirripi. He paints his father’s Yankirri Jukurrpa (Emu Dreaming), stories which relate directly to his land, its features and the plants and animals that inhabit it. These stories have been passed down to him by his father and his father before him for millennia. “I like painting my Jukurrpa . . . it keeps me busy and focused . . . it is very satisfying.” Ricardo uses design and an unrestricted palette to depict his traditional iconography.

When Ricardo is in Geelong and not studying, he paints realistic paintings, at present landscapes, and he does community service at Gordon, Geelong.

This particular site of the Yankirri Jukurrpa, (emu Dreaming) is at Ngarlikurlangu, north of Yuendumu. The ‘yankirri’ travelled to the rockhole at Ngarlikurlangu to find water. This Jukurrpa story belongs to Jangala/Jampijinpa men and Nangala/Nampijinpa women. In contemporary Warlpiri paintings traditional iconography is used to represent the Jukurrpa, associated sites and other elements.

Emus are usually represented by their ‘wirliya’ (footprints), arrow-like shapes that show them walking around Ngarlikurlangu eating ‘yakajirri’ (bush raisin). In the time of the Jukurrpa there was a fight at Ngarlikiurlangu between a ‘yankirri’ ancestor and Wardilyka (Australian bustard]) ancestors over sharing the ‘yakajirri’. There is also a dance for this Jukurrpa that is performed during initiation ceremonies.