118-26 – Jupiter Well – KATHY YUKENBARRI

Artist : KATHY YUKENBARRI
Title : Jupiter Well
Size/Medium : 760 x 460mm: acrylic on canvas Painting

About this painting, Kathy says :

“This is the story about my Great-Great-Grandfather’s Country, called Jupiter Well, near the Canning Stock Route—between Alice Springs and Port Hedland.

My dad, Joey Helicopter Tjungurrayi, and his families were born there—on both his mother’s and father’s sides. They grew up on that Country, living with their families and learning the traditional ways.

They were taught by watching and listening—learning from family how to speak many languages, and even sign language, for times when things were good or bad. They shared food and water from the rockholes—like the circle in the middle of the painting. They even fed the wild dingoes.

They lived in shelters and caves. Every day, they went hunting—north, south, east and west—keeping culture and kinship strong.

They also loved making hunting tools and carriers for babies, bush berries, and other things. Aboriginal people learned both ways—our way, and the kartiya (whitefella) way too.

Old people taught us stories about our Tjamu (great-great-grandfather) and his Country. Now we’re passing those stories on to the younger ones. We’re still learning—more and more, every day.

Palya, Tjukurrpa wangka.

That means: it’s good, the Dreaming stories of our Country in the Great Sandy Desert.”