Yurrampi Jukurrpa (Honey Ant Dreaming) - Original Art

This is an original artwork by artist - Colin Jakamarra Gibson, a member of the Warlukurlangu Artists Aboriginal Corporation.

Additional canvas around the edge of the painting allows for stretching.

Artwork measures - 30 x 30 cm

This original artwork is unframed and shipped rolled up to your door! We have very competitive framing options on our site - see tab below to get a free online quote. 

A stamped certificate of authenticity is supplied by Warlukurlangu Artists Aboriginal Corporation with this artwork.

Warlukurlangu Artists is famous for its gloriously colourful acrylic paintings and limited edition prints. The Aboriginal art centre has a national and international profile and its art has been featured in hundreds of exhibitions and publications in Australia and around the world. Warlukurlangu means ‘belonging to fire’ in the local language, Warlpiri, and is named for a fire dreaming site west of Yuendumu.

Established in 1985 Warlukurlangu Artists Aboriginal Corporation is a not-for-profit organisation that is 100% Aboriginal-owned by its artists from the remote desert communities of Yuendumu and Nyirripi in Central Australia. Proceeds from the sale of all art go directly back to the artists and their community projects. Warlukurlangu Artists is supported by funding from the Australian Government through the Indigenous Visual Arts Industry Support.

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ARTWORK STORY:

This painting depicts a ‘yurrampi Jukurrpa’ (honey ant Dreaming). This
Jukurrpa has special significance for Warlpiri people living in Yuendumu
because it passes right through the Yuendumu community. Yuendumu is 
therefore also called ‘Yurrampi’ (honey ant) for this reason. The ‘kirda’
(owners) of this Jukurrpa are Japangardi/Japanangka men and
Napangardi/Napanangka women.

This ‘yurrampi Jukurrpa’ begins southeast of Yuendumu at Yulumu and
travels west. The honey ant ancestors made passages and chambers
underground as they traveled, which created the soakages that remain
today. After Yulumu, the ‘yurrampi’ went west to Yulyupunyu, a small hill
called Yamparlinyi, and a place called Yakurrukaji, where they made a
soakage. This soakage at Yakurrukaji supplied water to the original
settlement of Yuendumu, and is where Yuendumu’s houses stand today.
After leaving Yakurrukaji, the ‘yurrampi’ went on to a place called
‘Wanakurduparnta’ west of Yuendumu, where they sat and attracted
other ‘yurrampi’ ancestors to them. Some of the ‘yurrampi’ eventually
went back east underground and died at Yulyupunyu, while others went
back and died at Yulumu. The ‘yurrampi Jukurrpa’ at Yuendumu is also
associated with a ‘wakapartari Jukurrpa’ (mulga worm Dreaming) and
‘jipilyaku Jukurrpa’ (duck Dreaming), all of which overlap at Yakurrukaji.
‘Yurrampi’ (also called ‘yunkaranyi’) are a prized delicacy, considered
well worth the enormous effort it takes to dig them out of the ground.

Honey ant nests can be located by looking for honey ants that are
walking around on the ground and following them back to the entrance of
their nest. These foraging honey ants are called ‘jaka-liirli’ and can be
identified by a little yellow stripe on their bottoms. When digging up the
nest, people look for streaks of bright red soil (‘kanjirtirirtiri’) that signify
that they are getting close to the underground honey ant chambers
(called ‘minki’). Honey ants ants dig tunnels quite deep underground in
‘jirrijirrirnpa’ (mulga woodland country). Branching from these
passageways are chambers in which the edible honey ants are
suspended from the ceilings, full of nectar collected from ‘yanyirlingi’
(desert fuchsia [Eremophila latrobei]). With their swollen abdomens, the
ants are unable to move. People pick them out, gather them in ‘parraja’
(coolamons), and eat their abdomens, which taste like honey.

In contemporary Warlpiri paintings, traditional iconography can be used
to represent the Jukurrpa, particular sites, and other elements. In
paintings of this Jukurrpa, concentric circles can represent the soakages
created by the ‘yurrampi’ ancestors. These circles can be connected by
lines representing the ‘yurrampi’ ancestors’ tracks. Straight lines can
represent the ‘karlangu’ (digging sticks) used to dig up the honey ant
nests.