Sarah-Jane Nampijinpa Singleton / Brush-tail Possum Dreaming – Mawurrji (8824-22)

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

Sarah-Jane Nampijinpa Singleton was born in 1984, in Alice Springs Hospital, the closest hospital to Yuendumu, a remote Aboriginal community located 290 km north-west of Alice Springs in NT of Australia. She is the daughter of Glorine Nungarrayi Martin and the granddaughter of Samson Japaljarri Martin (one of the founding members of Warlukurlangu Artists) and Uni Nampijinpa Martin, both renowned artists. Sarah-Jane grew up in Yuendumu. She attended the local primary school before going to Yirara College, in Alice Springs, a boarding school for Indigenous students.

Sarah-Jane has been painting with Warlukurlangu Artists Aboriginal Corporation, an Aboriginal owned and governed art centre located in Yuendumu since 1999. From an early age, she attended the Art Centre with her mother and her extended family, watching, learning and listening to her family’s stories. She mainly paints her father’s Yankirri Jukurrpa – Ngarikurlangu (Emu Dreaming) and her Grandfather’ Walawurra Jukurrpa (Eagle Dreaming). These stories relate directly to her land, its features and the plants and animals that inhabit it. They have been passed down to her by her parents and their parents before them for millennial. Sarah-Jane loves dot painting and working with colour and uses an unrestricted palette to depict her traditional iconography, at the same time developing a modern individualist style, using pattern and design in a variety of contexts.

Sarah-Jane is married and has three children. When she is not painting, she is at home caring for her children.

Janganpa Jukurrpa (common brush-tail possum Dreaming) travels all over Warlpiri country. ‘Janganpa’ are nocturnal animals that often nest in the hollows of white gum trees (‘wapunungka’).

This story comes from a big hill called Mawurrji, west of Yuendumu and north of Pikilyi (Vaughan Springs). A group of ‘janganpa’ ancestors resided there. Every night they would go out in search of food. Their hunting trips took them to Wirlki and Wanapirdi, where they found ‘pamapardu’ (flying ants). They journeyed on to Ngarlkirdipini looking for water. A Nampijinpa women was living at Mawurrji with her two daughters. She gave her daughters in marriage to a Jupurrurla ‘janganpa’ but later decided to run away with them. The Jupurrurla angrily pursued the woman. He tracked them to Mawurrji where he killed them with a stone axe. Their bodies are now rocks at this place.

Warlpiri people perform a young men’s initiation ceremony, which involves the Janganpa Jukurrpa. The Janganpa Jukurrpa belongs to Jakamarra/Jupurrurla men and Nakamarra/Napurrurla women. In Warlpiri paintings traditional iconography is used to represent this Jukurrpa. ‘Janganpa’ tracks are often represented as ‘E’ shaped figures and concentric circles are used to depict the trees in which the ‘janganpa’ live, and also the sites at Mawurrji.