The site depicted in this painting is Puyurru, west of Yuendumu. In the usually dry creek beds are water soakages or naturally occurring wells. Two Jangala men, rainmakers, sang the rain, unleashing a giant storm. It travelled across the country, with the lightning striking the land. This storm met up with another storm from Wapurtali, to the west, was picked up by a 'kirrkarlan' (brown falcon [Falco berigora]) and carried further west until it dropped the storm at Purlungyanu, where it created a giant soakage. At Puyurru the bird dug up a giant snake, 'warnayarra' (the 'rainbow serpent') and the snake carried water to create the large lake, Jillyiumpa, close to an outstation in this country. This story belongs to Jangala men and Nangala women. In contemporary Warlpiri paintings traditional iconography is used to represent the Jukurrpa, associated sites and other elements. In many paintings of this Jukurrpa curved and straight lines represent the 'ngawarra' (flood waters) running through the landscape. Motifs frequently used to depict this story include small circles representing 'mulju' (water soakages) and short bars depicting 'mangkurdu' (cumulus & stratocumulus clouds).

Purchase Details: This work, as part of Cooee’s Christmas show, A Love Magic Coo-ee Christmas and is available for sale from 3pm the 3rd December. If you are unable to make it to the opening, simply register your interest via email at info@cooeeart.com.au or call +61 2 9300 9200. If you would like to send through a 'wish list' of works in preference order and specify how many works in total you want, we will print this out, fold it in half and at 3pm we will begin to pull one list out at a time. We will endeavour to get you the work of your choosing but are unable to guarantee this.