Stephanie Napurrurla Nelson / Water Dreaming (2A)

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

Stephanie Napurrurla Nelson was born in 1984 in the Northern Territory town of Alice Springs. She grew up 290km from there, in Yuendumu, a remote Aboriginal Community. She attended the local school then studied at Yirrara College, an Aboriginal boarding college in Alice Springs. Stephanie’s auntie is Bessie Nakamarra Sims (Dec) who was one of the founding artists of Warlukurlangu Artists Aboriginal Corporation, an Aboriginal owned and governed art centre in the community of Yuendumu. Stephanie has painted at the art centre since 2000 under the guidance of Bessie, from whom she has been handed the Dreaming stories she paints. These stories have been passed down in this way over many generations. Stephanie’s dreamings include Janganpa (possum), Yarla (bush potato), Karnta (women), Marlu (kangaroo), Pamabaru (flying ant). They come from Waputali, the country of which her family are custodians, and relate directly to this land, it’s features and animals. Stephanie is married and has a son who was born in 2003. She likes playing basketball and going hunting with her family.

The country associated with this Water Dreaming is Mikanji, a watercourse west of Yuendumu that is usually dry. There are soakages in this creek bed. The owners of this Dreaming site are Nangala / Nampijinpa women and Jangala / Jampijinpa men. Mikanji is an important water Dreaming site, and features in at least three different water Dreaming tracks.

In one story, the water Dreaming travelled from Puyurru, northwest of Yuendumu, to a soakage in the Mikanji creek. It unleashed a huge storm there. Two old blind women of the Nampijinpa skin group were sitting by the side of the soakages. As the two women strained their eyes to see the sky, tears formed in their eyes, creating the rain. Their spirits can still be seen at Mikanji in the form of two river red gums growing near the soakage.

In contemporary Warlpiri paintings, traditional iconography is used to represent the Dreaming, associated sites, and other elements. In many paintings of this Dreaming, short dashes are often used to represent cumulus & stratocumulus clouds, and longer, flowing lines represent flood waters. Small circles are used to depict soakages and river beds.