Ursula Napangardi Hudson was born in 1962 in Yuendumu, she lives in Nyirripi, 150 km west of Yuendumu. Ursula has been painting since 1993 within the Yuendumu artists' community. Ursula paints her father's Yuparli Jukurrpa (Bush Banana Dreaming) and Pikilyi Jukurrpa (Vaughan Springs Dreaming), which she learned from her aunt and her mother's Ngapa Jukurrpa (Water Dreaming). These dreams have been passed down through the generations for thousands of years and relate directly to the land, its characteristics and the plants and animals that inhabit it. Ursula uses an unrestricted palette to develop a modern interpretation of her traditional culture. Ursula Hudson's work presents her version of the Dream of Pikilyi, a sacred site with a water hole and stream, not far from Yuendumu. Legend has it that a pair of Rainbow Snakes lived there. Women came to remove lice attached to the bodies of the two mythical beings, who in return gave them the right to take water from the stream. The Aborigines still celebrate ceremonies in this place where the spirit of the two snakes still resides. This Dreaming belongs to several family groups and illustrates the complexity of desert social structures, which are based on a kinship system that places each member of society in one of eight possible kinship groups. These groups are arranged in pairs, each pair jointly preserving the themes of the art: land, ceremonies and dreams. This painting tells a story that belongs to two male pairs, the Japangardi and the Japanangka, and two female pairs, the Napanangka and the Napangardi (the artist's clan). On the canvas, the wavy lines represent the water flowing into the river and the concentric circles represent the sacred site. |
MY SELECTION OF WORKS
