Ngapa Jukurrpa by Sabrina Robertson 51x40cm 8309SR

In this refined interpretation of Ngapa Jukurrpa(Water Dreaming), artist Sabrina Nangala Robertson skilfully evokes the drama and beauty of ancestral rain. Using a delicate palette of blue-grey, ochre yellow, and white, she captures the moment when heavy rain falls from storm-laden clouds into the sandy bed of Mikanji—a usually dry creek west of Yuendumu.

Within this ancient watercourse lie mulju (soakages), sacred places that store life-giving water deep beneath the surface. The custodians of this Jukurrpa are men from the Jangala and Jampijinpa skin groups, and women from the Nangala and Nampijinpa groups, who carry the responsibility for its stories, songs, and ceremonial knowledge.

According to the Dreaming, the ancestral rain journey began at Puyurru, northwest of Yuendumu, and travelled to a mulju at Mikanji. There, two blind women of the Nampijinpa skin group sat by the soakages. A rain ancestor unleashed a powerful storm upon the land. As the women tilted their faces skyward, trying to see the gathering clouds, tears welled in their eyes—transforming into rain. Their spirits are said to remain at Mikanji in the form of two ngapiri (river red gums) growing beside the waterhole.

Sabrina Nangala Robertson, the second eldest daughter of renowned artist Dorothy Napangardi and sister to Julie Nangala Robertson, continues this powerful lineage. Until recently, her surname was spelt Robinson.