Sabrina Napangardi Granites / Seven Sisters Dreaming (2736-25)

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

Sabrina Napangardi Granites is the daughter of Alma Nungarrayi Granites and the grand-daughter of Paddy Japaljarri Sims and Bessie Nakamarra Sims, two of the founding artists of Warlukurlangu Artists Aboriginal Corporation, an Aboriginal owned and governed art centre located in Yuendumu. Yuendumu is a remote Aboriginal community located 290 kms north-west of Alice Springs in the NT of Australia. The art centre is one of the oldest, continually operating art centres in the Central Desert of Australia.

Sabrina was born in 1972 in Yuendumu and attended the local school. She is married and has two daughters whom she is raising. Sabrina has been painting with the Warlukurlangu Artists Aboriginal Corporation since 1997. She paints the Dreaming stories passed to her from her grandfather and grandmother. They include Mina Mina Jukurrpa (Mina Mina Dreaming); Karntakurlangu Jukurrpa (Women’s Dreaming); and Ngalyipi Jukurrpa (Snake Vine Dreaming). She has worked for the art centre helping with distributing canvas, paints and brushes. Occasionally she goes hunting with her family around Yuendumu collecting bush foods.

The Napaljarri-warnu Jukurrpa (Seven Sisters Dreaming) depicts the story of the seven ancestral Napaljarri sisters who are found in the night sky today in the cluster of seven stars in the constellation Taurus, more commonly known as the Pleiades. The Pleiades are seven women of the Napaljarri skin group and are often depicted in paintings of this Jukurrpa carrying the Jampijinpa man ‘wardilyka’ (the bush turkey) who is in love with the Napaljarri-warnu and who represents the Orion’s Belt cluster of stars. Jukurra-jukurra, the morning star, is a Jakamarra man who is also in love with the seven Napaljarri sisters and is often shown chasing them across the night sky. In a final attempt to escape from the Jakamarra the Napaljarri-warnu turned themselves into fire and ascended to the heavens to become stars. The custodians of the Napaljarri-warnu Jukurrpa are Japaljarri/Jungarrayi men and Napaljarri/Nungarrayi women. Some parts of the Napaljarri-warnu Jukurrpa are closely associated with men’s sacred ceremonies of a very secretive nature.

In contemporary Warlpiri paintings traditional iconography is used to represent the Jukurrpa, associated sites and other elements. Often depicted in paintings for this Jukurrpa is the female star Yantarlarangi (Venus – the Evening Star) who chases the seven Napaljarri sisters for having stolen the night from her.