Water Dreamingby Tasha Nampijinpa Collins

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 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 "Kirrkarlanji" (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:Tasha Nampijinpa Collins
Title:Water Dreaming
ID:3909-17
Medium:Acrylic on Canvas
Size:30 x 30 cm
Region:Yuendumu, Central Australia

Artist

Tasha Nampijinpa Collins was born in 1988 and comes from Yuendumu Community approximately 300km from Alice Springs in Central Australia. Tasha grew up in Yuendumu and is married with one daughter. It was in 2004 that Tasha began to paint with Warlukurlangu Artists, an Aboriginal art centre located in Yuendumu. She initially attended workshops during school holidays but once she completed school she began to paint more regularly with the art centre.

Tasha paints with a modern individualistic style which incorporates traditional iconography and bright colours. She paints her father's Dreaming of Ngapa (Water). These stories relate directly to the land, it's features and the plants and animals that inhabit it. These stories have been passed down by through the generations.

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