Sarah Napaljarri Simms / Vaughan Springs Dreaming (2A)

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

Sarah Napaljarri Sims was born in 1988 in Derby Hospital, the closest hospital to Balgo, a remote Aboriginal community in Western Australia, linked with both the Great Sandy Desert and the Tanami Desert. Her Mum was from Balgo and her Dad from Nyirripi, another remote Aboriginal community approx. 660km north-east from Balgo. Sara lived with her parents in Balgo until she was thirteen years old, when her Mum passed away. Her father, Evan Jungarrayi Sims moved back to Nyirripi, where Sara’s Grandmother, Bessie Nakamarra Sims (1931-2012) raised her. Sara began her schooling in Balgo and finished it in Nyirripi. After she left school she travelled, visiting family in Kintore and Balgo, before returning to Nyirripi where she now lives. She is a single Mum with one son, born in 2010.

Sara began painting with Warlukurlangu Artists Aboriginal Corporation in 2013. The Art Centre makes regular visits to Nyirripi to drop off canvas, paint and brushes for the artists and to collect finished artwork. She paints her Grandmother’s Jukurrpa, stories about women’s ceremony held near Pikilyi (Vaughan Springs). ”I used to watch my grandmother paint and listen to her stories.” These stories have been passed down through generations for millennia and relate directly to the land, its features and the plants and animals that inhabit it. Sara finds painting relaxing and uses an unrestricted palette to develop a modern interpretation of her traditional culture.

When Sara is not painting she enjoys her home and is ‘house proud’ creating a clean home to share with family and friends, especially when watching TV. On weekends she sometimes goes hunting with her family.

Pikilyi is a large and important waterhole and natural spring near Mount Doreen station. Pikilyi Jukurrpa (Vaughan Springs Dreaming) tells of the home of two rainbow serpents, ancestral heroes who lived together as man and wife. The woman ‘rainbow serpent’ was of the Napanangka skin group, the man was a Japangardi. This was a taboo relationship contrary to Warlpiri religious law. Women of the Napanangka and Napangardi subsection sat by the two serpents, picking lice off them. For this service, the two serpents allowed the women to take water from the springs at Pikilyi. This was because the serpents were the ‘kirda’, or ceremonial owners, for that country. The spirits of these two rainbow serpents are still at Pikilyi today.