Valerie Napanangka Marshall / Women’s Dreaming (5723-19)

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

Valerie Napanangka Marshall was born in Alice Springs Hospital, the closest hospital to the Ltyentye Apurte Community, also known as Santa Teresa, an Arrernte indigenous community in the Northern Territory, Australia, located about 80 kilometres from Alice Springs. Shortly after her birth her parents moved first to Yuendumu and then to Nyirripi where Valerie now lives. Valerie attended Kormilda College, an Aboriginal boarding college in Darwin. After she finished school she returned to Nyirripi. She is married and has four children.

Valerie has been painting with Warlukurlangu Artists Corporation, an Aboriginal owned and governed art centre located in Yuendumu, a remote aboriginal community 290km north-west of Alice Springs, since 2001. Warlukurlangu makes regular visists to Nyirripi to drop off canvas, paint and brushes for the artists and to collect finished artwork. She paints her father’s dreaming, dreamings which are related to her land, its features and the plants and animals that inhabit it. These dreamings have been passed down through the generations for at least 50 millennia. To depict her traditional Jukurrpa, Valerie uses traditional iconography, while developing a modern individualistic style to depict her traditional Jukurrpa.

When Valerie is not working at the local store or painting she enjoys hunting with her family.

This painting depicts Nakamarra and Napurrurla women hunting for bush foods. The ‘kirda’ (owners) for this story are Nakamarra / Napurrurla women and Jakamarra / Jupurrurla men. Yumurrpa and Wapurtali are two major Dreaming sites owned by the Nakamarra / Jakamarra and Napurrurla / Jupurrurla subsections; these sites are also associated with bush food Dreamings. Yumurrpa is a major waterhole to the northwest of Yuendumu and a ‘yarla’ (bush potato) Dreaming site. The area north of Wapurtali / Yintaramurru (Mt. Singleton) is a ‘wanakiji’ (bush tomato) Dreaming site.

Warlpiri women hunt for a number of different bush foods at different times of the year. These include ‘ngarlkirdi’ (witchetty grubs), ‘yunkaranyi’ (honey ants), ‘jintiparnta’ and ‘purlantarri’ (desert truffle), ‘yuparli’ (bush bananas), ‘janmarda’ (bush onions), ‘pirlala’ (bush beans), ‘ngarlajiyi’ (bush carrots), ‘wayipi’ (small bush carrots), and ‘yakajirri’ (bush raisins). Women traditionally dug for these foods using wooden ‘karlangu’ (digging sticks). The end of the digging sticks were charred and ground on a stone surface to create a bevelled edge. Today many Warlpiri women use crowbars (also called ‘karlangu’) to dig for bush foods. Collected bush foods are traditionally carried in ‘parraja’ (coolamons), which can be carried with a strap made from the ‘ngalyipi’ (snake vine).

In Warlpiri paintings, traditional iconography is used to represent the Jukurrpa and other elements. Concentric circles are often used to represent the bush foods that the women have collected, while straight lines can be used to depict the ‘karlangu’ (digging sticks). Sinuous lines are often used to represent the ‘ngalyipi’ (snake vine).