Description
The site depicted in this painting is Puyurru, west of
Yuendumu. In the usually dry creek beds are water soakages
or naturally occurring wells. Two Jangala men, rainmakers,
sang the rain, unleashing a giant storm. It travelled across
the country, with the lightning striking the land. This storm
met up with another storm from Wapurtali, to the west,
was picked up by a ‘kirrkarlan’ (brown falcon [Falco
berigora]) and carried further west until it dropped the
storm at Purlungyanu, where it created a giant soakage. At
Puyurru the bird dug up a giant snake, ‘warnayarra’ (the
‘rainbow serpent’) and the snake carried water to create
the large lake, Jillyiumpa, close to an outstation in this
country. This story belongs to Jangala men and Nangala
women. In contemporary Warlpiri paintings traditional
iconography is used to represent the Jukurrpa, associated
sites and other elements. In many paintings of this Jukurrpa
curved and straight lines represent the ‘ngawarra’ (flood
waters) running through the landscape. Motifs frequently
used to depict this story include small circles representing
‘mulju’ (water soakages) and short bars depicting
‘mangkurdu’ (cumulus & stratocumulus clouds).
