Cat#: 10327
Warlukurlangu Jukurrpa (Fire country Dreaming)
122 x 61 cm

This Dreaming belongs to Warlukurlangu country to the south-west of
Yuendumu, for which Jampijinpa/Jangala men and Nampijinpa/Nangala
women have custodial responsibility. An old man ‘lungkarda’ (centralian
blue-tongued lizard [Tiliqua multifasciata]), of the Jampijinpa skin group,
lived on a hill with his two Jangala sons. The old man would feign
blindness and send the two boys hunting in search of meat. While they
were gone he would hunt and eat anything that he caught before they
returned. One day the sons returned with a kangaroo that they had
caught after much tracking. Unfortunately the kangaroo was sacred to
the ‘lungkarda’, unbeknown to the boys. In his anger the old man
decided to punish his sons and the next time they went out, he put his
fire stick to the ground and sent a huge bush fire after them which
chased them for many miles, at times propelling them through the air.
Although the boys beat out the flames, ‘lungkarda’s’ special magic kept
the fire alive and it re-appeared out of his blue-tongued lizard hole.
Exhausted the boys were finally overcome by the flames. In
contemporary Warlpiri paintings traditional iconography is used to
represent the Jukurrpa, particular sites and other elements. Usually sites
that are depicted in paintings of this Jukurrpa include Warlukurlangu (a
men’s cave), Kirrkirrmanu (where the sacred kangaroo was killed),
Wayililinypa (where the fire killed the two Jangala sons) and Marnimarnu
(a water soakage) where the two Jangalas camped.