Pikilyi Jukurrpaby Amelia Napaljarri Brown

Pikilyi is a large and important waterhole and natural spring near Mount Dorreen station. Pikilyi Jukurrpa means Vaughan Spring Dreaming tells the story of the home of two rainbow serpents, ancestral heroes who lived together as man and wife. The women rainbow serpent was of the Napanangka skin group, the man a Japangardi. This was a taboo relationship contrary to Aboriginal Warlpiri religious law. Women of the Napanangka and Napangardi subsection sat by the two serpents, picking lice off them. For this service, the two serpents allowed the women to take water from the springs at Pikilyi. This was because the serpents were ceremonial owners for that country. The spirits of these two rainbow serpents are still at Pikilyi today. This Dreaming belongs to the women and men of the Japanangka/Napanangka and Japangardi/Napangardi skin groups.

Artist:Amelia Napaljarri Brown
Title:Pikilyi Jukurrpa
ID:269-18
Medium:Acrylic on Canvas
Size:30 x 30 cm
Region:Yuendumu, Central Australia

Artist

Amelia Napaljarri Brown was born in 1952 and comes from Yuendumu Community approximately 300km from Alice Springs in Central Australia. Amelia has been working with Warlukurlangu Artists in Yuendumu since 1996. She paints her father's Dreaming, in particular Pikilyi Jukurrpa (Vaughan Springs Dreaming) and Kanta Jukurrpa. These Dreamings relate directly to the land, it's features and the plants and animals that inhabit it. Amelia uses traditional iconography and symbols to depict her Dreamings.

View more artworks by this artist

+ Read more about artist