Pirlinyanu (2010) by Julie Nangala Robertson, 198x61cm Cat 13483JR

Julie Nangala Robertson, winner of the 2023 Telstra Aboriginal Art Award in Best Painting Category, depicts her Ngapa Jukurrp a (Water Dreaming), which is associated with her father’s traditional country of Pirlinyanu, a rocky outcrop in the Tanami Desert, west of Yuendumu and towards the WA border.

This is rocky country with its significant waterholes and plentiful bush tucker is one of many significant locations for the Water Dreaming because if you know which rocks to move you always have access to fresh water in the deep natural occurring wells of Pirlinyanu. Without this knowledge one could imagine there was no water in this desert landscape.

Using an aerial perspective along with a more recently established and distinctive monochromatic palette, Julie’s paintings have become works of extraordinary optical brilliance as she creates movement and shapes with the placement of dots, as well as building up specific shapes or reference points often by repeated overdotting.

The eldest of the five daughters of Dorothy Napangardi Robinson has recently changed the spelling of her surname to Robertson, feeling that her father, Windy, had misspelt it as Julie's other relatives in Yuendumu are all Robertson. Windy had two wives, Rene Robinson and Dorothy Robinson.