Ngapakurlu Jukurrpa (Rain Dreaming)
DOOR #28 (From Yuendumu Door Etchings)

2000, etching, 18.2 x 7 cm, edition 41/75

Warlukurlangu Artists Aboriginal Association

This etching belongs to the Rain Dreaming.  This story travelled across the north and went to Mikanji, west of Yuendumu.  Another rain came from the south, from Karliprinpa.  Big white clouds came and then moved closer, coming down towards the earth.  They forced down the small rain clouds which formed the piles of jutting rocks around the country.  This water went west to Mikanji.  It was heavey, flooding rain whicdh blocked the path of the Jardiwarnpa ceremonial men.

Depicted here as the long curved lines are wirmpa (lightening) and mungkurdu (clouds).

Purlka-purlkakurlu Jukurrpa (Old Men Dreaming)
DOOR #4 (From Yuendumu Door Etchings)

2000, etching, 18.2 x 6.8 cm, edition 42/75

Warlukurlangu Artists Aboriginal Association

This etching represents old men who were preparing for battle.  They chopped down a tree, bringing back the roughly hewn piece of wood to their camp they carved fine boomerangs.  They made many large excellent boomerangs.  Before the battle they tested each boomerang.  From the first they flew through the air, spinning around and returning to the owner, with great accuracy.  All the old men watched the boomerangs.

Then the battle started, they fought with axes, travelling off to the south.  At the place they started fighting there are rocky hills.  They fought with karli (boomerangs) and warlkurru (axes).  The men buried the axes when they had finished with them.  At this place there is now a big rockhole.  There are many rockholes there from all the axes the old men buried.  There is also a sandhill called Kankarlarra.  The weapons of this Jukurrpa turned into Desert oaks which grow in that sandhill country.  The men that fought were Japaljarris and Japangardis.  Those old men turned into birds - falcons, hawks and kites.

Karntkurlu manu Warlawurrukurlu Jukurrpa
(Women and Wedge-tailed Eagle Dreaming)

DOOR #14 (From Yuendumu Door Etchings)

2000, etching, 18.5 x 7.3 cm, edition 42/75

Warlukurlangu Artists Aboriginal Association

This Jukurrpa is about women.  The women are engaged in decorating themselves for ceremonies.  They sing as they prepare.  Using a thin flexible stick as a paint brush, they apply karrku (red ochre) and nyunju nyunju (white ochre) to their arms and chests.

Also depiected in this etching is the Warlawurru Jukurrpa.  This wedge-tailed eagle is from Wakurlpa, just north of Yuendumu.  The eagle came there from Ngatiri, further to the north.

The main concentric circle represents ngurlu (seed), the long lines that extend from here are jalyirrpa (branches).  The 'U' shapes represent women and the small dashes are their karlangu (digging sticks).  The small circles at the bottom of the door represent ngipiri (eggs).

PADDY JAPALJARRI STEWART

Aboriginal artist Paddy Stewart Japaljarri is from Mungapunju, just south of Yuendumu. When he was a young man he was a station worker at Mt Allen, Mt Dennison and up the top end. He worked as a chef in Papunya, hence his nickname 'Cookie'.For a very long time now he has been living in Yuendumu. Cookie worked at the Yuendumu school teaching young kids, both kardiya and yapa (non aboriginal and aboriginal). He's taught painting, jukurrpa (dreaming), tracking (dingo, kangaroo, goanna etc...), how to make wax for the sand painting, dancing, making boomerangs and many other important culture traditions. Each day Paddy drove the school bus that collected the kids. He was also involved in the council here and in Night Patrol. Night Patrol has been absolutely invaluable as a yapa (aboriginal) policing body. Cookie has been drawing and painting for a long time, including working on the Yuendumu School Doors. He is presently the chairman for the Warlukurlangu Artists Committee.
In 1988 Paddy Stewart was selected by The Power Gallery, Sydney University to travel to Paris with five other Warlpiri men from Yuendumu to create a ground painting installation at the exhibition 'Magiciens de la Terre' at the Centre Georges Pompidou. The trip took place in May 1989 and the painting was received with world wide acclaim.

In 2000 Paddy Stewart undertook to produce 30 etchings of the original Yuendumu Doors in collaboration with Paddy Sims and under the guidance of Basil Hall, Northern Editions Printmaker (Northern Territory University). The first print of the etchings was all on one page and had its debut alongside the Yuendumu Doors while they were exhibited in Alice Springs. The etchings in a set were launched in 2001, to great aclaim with the set winning the Telstra, 16th National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Award, for works on paper.

Subjects and themes

Marlu (Kangaroo)
Janganpa (Possum)
Yarla (Yam)
Warlawurru (Eagle)
Wardapi (Goanna)
Yajukurlu (Bush cabbage)
Jarlji (Frog)
Jajirdi (Native Cat)
Ngatijirri (Budgerigar)
Wakulyarri (Banded Rock Wallaby)
Yanyilingi (Native Fuschia)
Pingirri (Meat ant).

Awards

2001
Telstra Work On Paper Award, The 16th National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Award, Telstragroup

Exhibitions

1985
Araluen, Alice Springs

1986
Editions Gallery, Perth
Araluen Arts Centre, Alice Springs

1987
Reconnaissance Gallery, Melbourne Chapman Gallery, Canberra

1988
F.O.E. Community Art Space, Melbourne
Bellas Gallery, Brisbane Hilton Hotel (Nadoc Week), Adelaide
Dreamtime Gallery, Perth
'Dreamings. The Art of Aboriginal Australia' Asia Society, New York, U.S.A.
F.O.E. Community Art Space, Melbourne

1989
Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris, France
Hogarth Gallery of Dreams, Sydney

1990
'Dreamings' South Australian Museum, Adelaide
South Australian Museum Shop, Adelaide Festival

1991
'Aboriginal Art And Spirituality', Canberra
Albert Hall, Canberra

1992
The Haven Gallery, Melbourne
Emerald Hill, Melbourne

1993
Adelaide Town Hall, Adelaide (Pacific Arts Symposium)
'Aratjara - Art of the First Australians' Kunstsammlung Nordrhein Westfalen, Dusseldorf, West Germany
'Artajara', Haywood Gallery, London, UK
Bellas Gallery, Brisbane
Sutton Gallery, Melbourne
'Tjukurrpa, Desert Dreamings - a survey of central desert art 1971-1993' Art Gallery of Western Australia, Perth
Hogarth Gallery of Dreams, Sydney
Chapman Gallery, Canberra
Philip Bacon Galleries, Brisbane
H. B Starr Gallery, Florida

1994
The Assembly Hall of the Territorial Parliament, Tahiti, French Polynesia
Palm Beach Community College, Lake Worth, Florida
Interamerican Art Gallery, Miami, Florida
'Aratjara', National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
Hogarth Gallery, Sydney

1995
Kloosterkazerne, Breda INMA Foundation, Amsterdam.

1996
Hogarth Gallery, Sydney
Lake Macquarie Art Gallery

1997
Art Gallery NSW, Festival of the Dreaming, Ngapa Sand Painting, Sydney

1999
'Fighting for Culture', Indigenart, The Mossenson Gallery, Perth, W.A.
Desert Mob Show, Araluen Centre, Alice Springs

2000
Print exhibition, Bellas Gallery, Brisbane
"jangku yinyi", Carey Baptist Grammar School, Melbourne
Kurawari, Desart Gallery, Sydney
Hogarth Gallery, Sydney
Gallery Gabrielle Pizzi, Melbourne
Paintings and Prints, Northern Terrirtory University, Darwin
'Wayuta', The Desart Janganpa Gallery, Alice Springs
'Unhinged' Araluen Cultural Centre, Alice Springs

2001
Framed Gallery Darwin
Bellas Gallery Brisbane
Hogarth Gallery Sydney
Yuendumu Door Etchings' National Gallery of Australia
18th National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Award

2002
Indigenart Perth
"The Warlukurlangu Collection" Parliament House Canberra
Chapman Gallery Canberra
'Desert Mob' Araluen Art Centre and Gallery Alice Springs
Bellas Gallery Brisbane

2003
Yilpinji, Love, Magic and Ceremony, Outback Gallery, Darling Harbour. Sydney. Australia.
Yilpinji, Love, Magic and Ceremony, Darwin Entertainment Centre Gallery, Darwin, Northern Territory.
Yilpinji, Love, Magic and Ceremony, Alcheringa Gallery, Victoria, British Columbia, Canada.

Commisions

1991
Prof. H Antes, Berlin, commissioned a 7x 3m canvas by fourty two of Yuendumu's artists. The painting forms part of the 1993 European touring exhibition 'Aratjara - Australian Aboriginal Art' curated by Kunstsammlung Nordrhein Westfalen Dusseldorf West Germany.

2000
Robert Kaplan and Margaret Levi in collaboration with the Seatle Art Museum commissioned a 6' x 8' painting by Jack Jakamarra Ross, Paddy Japaljarri Sims and Paddy Japaljarri Stewart. This 'Pamapardu Jukurrpa' (Flying Ant Dreaming) comes from a site called Yuwinji. Jack is one of the main kirda (owners) and the Paddy Sims and Paddy Stewart are kurdungurlu (like police) for this story. As part of this commission a video was produced documenting the creation of the painting, the story and various attempts to reach the site.

Bibliography

Artlink Volume 20 No. 1 Reconciliation? Indigenous art for the 21st Century 2000 p. 87.
Diggins, L. (ed.) A Myriad of Dreaming Malakoff Fine Art Press, Melbourne 1989
Sutton, P. (ed.) Dreamings: The Art of Aboriginal Australia Viking, New York 1988.
Warlukurlangu Artists Yuendumu Doors Kuruwarri Australian Institute of Aboriginal Studies, Canberra 1987.
Crumlin. R. (ed.) Aboriginal Art And Spirituality. 1991.
Morphy, H. 'Aboriginal Art' Phaidon Press Limited, London,1998.
Morphy, H. and Boles, M.S. (eds.) 'Art from the land' University of Virginia Press, Virginia, U.S.A., 1999.

Collections

South Australian Museum, Adelaide
Seatle Art Museum, U.S.A.
Duncan Kentish
Private Collections
Art Gallery and Museum, Kelvin Grove, Glasgow, Scotland