EDITION RUG 'Ngalyipi - Snake Vine' design by Judy Napangardi Watson
EDITION RUG 'Ngalyipi - Snake Vine' design by Judy Napangardi Watson
Limited Edition Rug #17/100
88 x 62cm
Hand dyed, chain stitched wool finished with a heavy cotton backing with a sleeve to hang if desired. This rug is born of a cross cultural collaboration between Aboriginal artists and traditional Kashmiri weavers through Better World Arts. Purchase of this rug directly benefits the artists and and their communities, control and ownership of intellectual property are also maintained.
Each rug is a completely handmade piece. This project brings many direct benefits to the artists’ and their families. Control and ownership of intellectual property are maintained by the artists and the artisans. The artists are the custodians of their stories and country, the Kashmiris are the cultural owners of this particular handicraft. It is not possible to find this handicraft outside of the Kashmir valley. Purchase of these rugs guarantees a direct return to the Aboriginal artist as well as supporting traditional work in the remote regions of the Kashmir valley. Text courtesy of Better World Arts
The design for this rug was taken from an original painting by Judy Napangardi Watson. The country associated with this painting is Mina Mina, a place far west of Yuendumu and is significant to Napangardi and Napanangaka women who are custodians of the Dreaming that created the area. It describes the journey of a group of women of all ages who travelled east gathering food, collecting Ngalyipi (Tinospora smilacina or snake vine) and performing ceremonies as they traveled. The women began their journey at Mina Mina where karlangu (digging sticks emerged from the ground. Taking these, the women traveled east creating Janyinki and other sites. Their journey took eventually took them beyond Warlpiri country.
The central motif in this painting is Ngalyipi - snake vine, which grows along the trunks and boughs of desert oak. Ngalyipi is a vine sacred to Napangardi and Napananganka women and has many uses - as a ceremonial wrap, as a strap to carry parrajas ( aka coolamons - wooden carrying vessel) laden with bush tucker and as a tourniquet for headaches.
Judy Napangardi Watson c.1920 - 2016 was born at Yarungkanji, Mt Doreen Station, at the time when many Warlpiri and other Central and WEstern Desert peoples were living a traditional lifestyle. With her family, Judy made many trips on foot to her country and lived for long periods at Mina Mina and Yingipurlangu, her ancestral country on the border of the Tanami and Gibson Deserts. Judy was taught painting by her elder sister Maggie Napangardi Watson. Though a tiny woman, Judy Has had ten children, three of whom she has outlived. She is a woman of incredible energy and this is transmitted to her work through her dynamic use of colour and “dragged dotting” style. She is at the forefront of a move towards more abstract rendering of Jukurrpa ( lore ) by Warlpiri artists, however, her work retains strong kurruwarri, the details of which tell of the sacredness of place and song in her culture.
In 2007 Judy Watson Napangardi was listed of one of the 50 most collectable artists by the Australian Art Collector Magazine.
COLLECTIONS :
National Gallery of Australia, Canberra
Art Gallery of New South Wales
Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory
Flinders University Art Museum
South Australian Museum, Adelaide
Aboriginal Art Museum, Utrecht, The Netherlands
Gordon Darling Foundation, Canberra
National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
The Henderson Family Collection, Sydney
Corrigan Collection, Sydney
Luciano Benetton Collection, Venice
Araluen Arts Centre, Alice Springs
Kluge Ruhe Aboriginal Art Collection, University of Virginia, USA
Fondation Burkhardt-Felder Arts et Culture, Motiers, Switzerland
Artbank, Sydney
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2008 Judy Watson Napangardi, Metro 5 Gallery, Melbourne
2006 Karntakurlangu – Women’s Stories, Alcaston Gallery, Sydney NSW
2005 Karnta Jukurrpa, Alcaston Gallery, Melbourne VIC
GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2021 We Choose to Challenge, Coo-ee Fine Art Gallery, Sydney
2020 Colours of Spring, Kate Owen Gallery, Sydney
2019 Beyond Time, Australian Aboriginal Art, Booker Lowe Gallery, Houston, Texas, USA
2018 Land and Sky - Warlpiri Artists, Japingka Gallery, Fremantle, WA
2008 True Colours, Ladner and Fell Gallery, Melbourne
2004 Colour Power: Aboriginal Art Post 1984, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
Painting Country, Thornquest Gallery, Queensland
New Works from Yuendumu, Bellas Gallery, Brisbane
Little Warlu, Big Stories, Hot Little paintings by Big artists of Yuendumu, Australia's NT & Outback Centre, Sydney
Dreaming Stories, Indigenart, Perth
Divas of the Desert, Gallery Gondwana, Alice Springs
Desert Mob, Araluen Centre, Alice Springs
Big Country, Gallery Gondwana, Alice Springs
Les Couleurs du Desert, Galerie DAD, Mantes La Jolie , France
2003 Yimi Pirrijirdi - Strong Stories, Alison Kelly Gallery, Melbourne
True Blue Christmas 2003, Framed Gallery, Darwin
The Colours of Mina Mina, Judy Watson and Betsy Lewis, Raft Gallery, Darwin
Kurruwarri Wirijarlu - Big Story, Hogarth Gallery, Sydney
Desert Mob, Araluen Centre, Alice Springs
2002 Warlukurlangu Collection, Parliament House, Canberra
Warlukurlangu Artists Cooperative of Yuendumu, Jeffrey Moose Gallery, Seatlle USA
Warlukurlangu Artists Cooperative of Yuendumu, One Union Square Lobby, Seattle, USA
New Works from Warlukurlangu, Indigenart, Perth WA
Paintings from Yuendumu, Rebecca Hossack Gallery, London
2000 Wayuta, The Desart Janganpa Gallery, Alice Springs
Journey to the North West, Palya Art, Sydney
Gallery Gabrielle Pizzi, Melbourne
1999 Mina Mina, Hogarth Galleries, Sydney
International Women's Day Exhibition, Watch This Space, Alice Springs
Desert Mob Show, Araluen Centre, Alice Springs
1998 Kurrawarri Kirli, Gallery Gabrielle Pizzi, Melbourne
Art Gallery Culture Store, Rotterdam, The Netherlands
Les Couleurs du Desert, Galerie DAD, Mantes La Jolie , France
2003 Yimi Pirrijirdi - Strong Stories, Alison Kelly Gallery, Melbourne
True Blue Christmas 2003, Framed Gallery, Darwin
The Colours of Mina Mina, Judy Watson and Betsy Lewis, Raft Gallery, Darwin
Kurruwarri Wirijarlu - Big Story, Hogarth Gallery, Sydney
Desert Mob, Araluen Centre, Alice Springs
2002 Warlukurlangu Collection, Parliament House, Canberra
Warlukurlangu Artists Cooperative of Yuendumu, Jeffrey Moose Gallery, Seatlle USA
Warlukurlangu Artists Cooperative of Yuendumu, One Union Square Lobby, Seattle, USA
New Works from Warlukurlangu, Indigenart, Perth WA
Paintings from Yuendumu, Rebecca Hossack Gallery, London
2000 Wayuta, The Desart Janganpa Gallery, Alice Springs
Journey to the North West, Palya Art, Sydney
Gallery Gabrielle Pizzi, Melbourne
1999 Mina Mina, Hogarth Galleries, Sydney
International Women's Day Exhibition, Watch This Space, Alice Springs
Desert Mob Show, Araluen Centre, Alice Springs
1998 Kurrawarri Kirli, Gallery Gabrielle Pizzi, Melbourne
Art Gallery Culture Store, Rotterdam, The Netherlands
1997 Hogarth Gallery, Sydney
1995 SOFA, Miami, USA
SOFA, Chicago, USA
Bellas Gallery, Brisbane
1994 Armstrong Gallery, Florida
Echoes of the Dreamtime, Osaka, Japan
1993 Sutton Gallery, Melbourne
Northern Territory Art Award, Araluen Arts Centre, Alice Springs
CINAFE (Chicago International New Art Forms Exposition), USA
Bellas Gallery, Brisbane 1993 Adelaide Town Hall, (in assoc. with The Pacific Arts Symposium), Adelaide
1992 The Long Gallery, Hobart
Hogarth Gallery of Dreams, Sydney
1991 Darwin Performing Arts Centre, Darwin
1990 Women's Exhibition, The Women's Gallery, Melbourne