Budgerigar Dreaming (Ngatijirri Jukurrpa) is a new series of paintings by Karen Napaljarri Barnes, a Warlukurlangu artist based in Yuendumu in the Northern Territory.
The series of works refers to the Budgerigar Dreaming story. The Jukurrpa (Dreaming) sites shown in these paintings for Ngatijrri (Budgerigar) are at Yangarnmpi, south of Yuendumu. Ngatijirri are small birds native to central Australia which are common around the Yuendumu area, especially after the summer rains. Custodians for the Ngatijirri Jukurrpa are Napaljarri/Nungarraayi women and Japaljarri/Jungaarrayi men.
In her paintings, Barnes has used a non-traditional way of painting the Jukurrpa. She has used a more realistic depiction of the birds and a very abstract representation of the landscape and colours.
Karen Napaljarri Barnes was born in 1992 in Lajamanu, a remote Aboriginal community in semi-arid country on the edge of the Tanami Desert 1000km north-west of Alice Springs in the Northern Territory. She moved to Yuendumu, 700km south, after finishing school in Lajamanu, to be with her family. She has been painting with Warlukurlangu Artists Aboriginal Corporation, an Aboriginal owned and governed Art Centre, since 2001. She is the grand-daughter of Warlukurlangus’s famous artist Judy Napangardi Watson and they would sit together painting at the Art Centre every day when Karen first started painting. Karen paints the dreaming stories handed down to her by her family for generations of millenia, stories which come from Mina Mina, country west of Yuendumu of which her family are the custodians. She also paints Karnta Jukurrpa (Women’s Dreaming), Wakulyarri Jukurrpa (Wallaby Dreaming), Ngarlajiyi Jukurrpa (Bush Carrot Dreaming).
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Image credit: Karen Napaljarri Barnes Budgerigar Dreaming 766/18 2018 acrylic on Belgian linen 152.0 x 91.0 cm. Courtesy of the Warlukurlangu Artists Aboriginal Corporation.
