Ngapa Jukurrpa by Sabrina Nangala Robertson 36X31cm 6990/18SR

In this evocative painting titled Ngapa Jukurrpa (Water Dreaming), Sabrina Nangala Robertson depicts a sacred watercourse known as Mikanji, located west of Yuendumu. The central blue-grey motif represents a large mulju (soakage), a vital source of underground water in this usually dry creek bed. From this central soakage, finely dotted lines in white, yellow ochre, and blue-grey radiate outward toward similar blue-grey motifs in each corner—each one symbolising additional mulju .

The composition reads like a map viewed from above, echoing the traditional aerial perspective often found in Warlpiri painting. It reflects ancestral knowledge passed down over generations, showing where to dig for water after the rains have passed and the life-giving water has soaked into the sand.

This sacred story is held within the Ngapa Jukurrpa song cycles, maintained and passed on by men of the Jangala and Jampijinpa skin groups, and women of the Nangala and Nampijinpa skin groups—custodians of both cultural law and Country.

According to the Dreaming, the journey of the rain ancestor began at Puyurru, northwest of Yuendumu, and continued to the mulju at Mikanji. There, two old blind women of the Nampijinpa skin group sat beside the soakage. As a great storm approached, summoned by the ancestor, the women strained to see the sky. Tears welled in their eyes, and those tears became the rain itself. Their spirits are said to remain at Mikanji, embodied in two ngapiri (river red gums) still growing near the soakage.

Sabrina Nangala Robertson is the second eldest daughter of the acclaimed artist Dorothy Napangardi and sister to Julie Nangala Robertson. Until recently, her surname was spelt Robinson . Her work continues the legacy of her family, blending ancestral wisdom with her own evolving artistic voice.