Water Dreamingby Ritchie Jampijinpa Robertson

This beautiful small painting depicts the site of Puyurru, to the west of Yuendumu. It is a significant place for Ritchie and his family. Puyurru is usually dry creek beds which are water soakages or natural occurring wells. The Jukurrpa (Dreaming) talks of two Jangala men who were rain-makers, they would sing the rain, unleashing a gaint storm. It travelled across the country with lightning striking the land. The storm met another storm from Wapurtali, to the west, where it was picked up by a "Kirrkarlan" (Brown Falcon) and carried further west until it dropped the storm at Purlungyanu. It was here that a great soakage was created. At Puyurru a bird dug up a giant snake "Warnayarra" (The Rainbown Serpent) and the snake carried water to create the large lake, Jillyiumpa, near an outstation in this country. This particular Dreaming story belongs to the Jangala men and the Nangala women.

Artist:Ritchie Jampijinpa Robertson
Title:Water Dreaming
ID:5114
Medium:Acrylic on Canvas
Size:30 x 30 cm
Region:Yuendumu, Central Australia

Artist

Ritchie Jampitjinpa Robertson was born in approximately 1950 and is from Yuendumu Community approximately 3 hours from Alice Springs in Central Australia. He is a Warlpiri man whose Dreaming story relates to Ngapa Jukurrpa (Water Dreaming). For Ritchie the site of Puyurru is significant for him and his family and he uses this as inspiration for his paintings. Ritchie’s paintings use traditional iconography to depict the water soakages or natural wells found at Puyurru.

Ritchie is an artist with Warlukurlangu - Artists of Yuendumu which was established in 1985 as an Aboriginal owned and governed art centre in Yuendumu Community. Central Art is pleased to be able to share some of his artwork.

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Why Sabine likes this

I like this painting because it illustrates the simplicity of water flowing through the desert. Aboriginal people have a vast amount of knowledge on how to survive in the harsh environment of the Central Australian desert. When I look at this painting I can appreciate how this knowledge is depicted using simple traditional iconography yet is influenced by thousands of years of history, culture and knowledge.