Valma Nakamarra White / Seven Sisters Dreaming (4817-23)

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

Valma Nakamarra White was born in 1997 in Alice Springs Hospital, the closest hospital to Yuendumu, a remote Aboriginal community located 290 km north-west of Alice Springs in the NT of Australia. Valerie was born into a family of artists. Her mother is Sabrina Napangardi Granites and her Grandmother is Alma Nungarrayi Granites, both established artists who have exhibited in Australia and overseas. Valma grew up listening to her mother and father’s Jukurrpa stories while watching her family paint. She went to the local school in Yuendumu, finishing off her studies at Yirara College, an Aboriginal boarding college in Alice Springs. When she finished school she worked on the Mt Theo Program and on a Walpriri Media project. She is married and has a little baby girl Cerella, born in 2013.

Valma began painting with Warlukurlangu Artists Aboriginal Corporation, an Aboriginal owned and governed art centre located in Yuendumu, in 2013. She paints her father’s Jukurrpa, Warna Jukurrpa (Snake Dreaming) that relates to her homeland, Mijirlparnta (Mission Creek). These stories have been passed down over the generations for millennia and relate directly to the land, its features and the plants and animals that inhabit it. Valma uses an unrestricted palette to depict a modern interpretation of her traditional culture.

When Valma 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. She also works occasionally at the art centre assisting with day to day activities. On weekends she sometimes goes hunting with her family.

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.