Peggy Nampijinpa Brown
Warlukurlangu Jukurrpa (Fire country dreaming), 2025
acrylic on canvas
107 x 61 cm
249/25
This Dreaming belongs to Warlukurlangu country to the south-west of Yuendumu, for which Jampijinpa/Jangala men and Nampijinpa/Nangala women have custodial responsibility. The old man 'lunkards' (centrallian blue-tongued lizard {Tiliqua multifasciata}),...
This Dreaming belongs to Warlukurlangu country to the south-west of Yuendumu, for which Jampijinpa/Jangala men and Nampijinpa/Nangala women have custodial responsibility. The old man 'lunkards' (centrallian blue-tongued lizard {Tiliqua multifasciata}), of the Jampijimpa skin group, lived on a hill with his two Jangala sons. The old man would feign blindness and send the two boys hunting in search of meat. While they were gone he would hunt and eat anything that he caught before they returned. One day the sons returned with a kangaroo that hey had caught after much tracking. Unfortunately the kangaroo was was sacred to the 'lungkarda', unbeknown to the boys. In his anger the old man decided to punish his sons and the next tine they went out, he put his fire stick to the ground and sent a huge bush fire after them which chased themfor many miles. at times propelling them through the air. Although the boys beat out the flames, 'lungkarda' special magic kept the fire alive and it re-appeared out of his ble-tonunged lizard hole. Exhausted the boys were finallyovercome by the flames. In contemporaryWarlpiri paintings traditional iconography is used to represent the Jukurrpa, particular sites and other elements. Usually sites that are depicted in paintings of this Jukurrpa in clude Warlukurlurlangu (a men's cave), Kirrkirrmanu (where the sacred kangaroo was killed),Waylilinipa (where the fire killed the two Jangala sons) and Marnimarnu (a water soakage) where the two Jangalas camped.