Pikilyi Dreaming by Steven Japanangka
| Artist: | Steven Japanangka |
| Title: | Pikilyi Dreaming |
| Medium: | Acrylic on linen |
| Size: | 46 X 30cm |
| Code: | 0494 |
Steven paints for the Warlukurlangu Artists Aboriginal Corporation located at the Yuendumu community 300km north-west of Alice Springs in the Northern Territory of Australia. Established in 1985, Warlukurlangu Artists Aboriginal Corporation is a fully Aboriginal owned and governed art centre with over 600 members. One hundred percent of the proceeds from the sale of all art works go directly back to the artists and their community projects.
The art centre is famous for its gloriously colourful acrylic paintings with many of its members work collectable having been featured in hundreds of exhibitions both in Australia and around the world .The art centre is both a stronghold of traditional Warlpiri culture and an essential part of Yuendumu's community life.
Pikilyi is a large and important waterhole and natural spring near Mount Doreen station. Pikilyi Dreaming tells of the home of two rainbow serpents, ancestral heroes who lived together as man and wife. The woman 'rainbow serpent' was of the Napanangka skin group, the man was a Japangardi.
Women often sat by the two serpents, picking lice off them. For this service, the two serpents allowed the women to take water from the springs at Pikilyi. This was because the serpents were ceremonial owners, for that country. The spirits of these two rainbow serpents are still at Pikilyi today.
Digital Finery.