Brushtail Possum Dreaming (Janganpa Jukurrpa)

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Brushtail Possum Dreaming (Janganpa Jukurrpa)

Artist: Topsy Napurrula Fisher (Indigenous Australian, 1940 - 2013)

Culture: Aboriginal Australians (Warlpiri language group)

Date: 2007

Medium: Acrylic on canvas

Dimensions:

29 15/16 x 18 1/8 in. (76 x 46 cm)

Credit Line: San Antonio Museum of Art, gift of the Lam Family

Object number: 2016.14.58

Provenance: Sold through Warlukurlangu Artists Aboriginal Association, Yuendumu, to May Lam and Dr. Dorothy Lam; May Lam and Dr. Dorothy Lam, by gift to San Antonio Museum of Art, 2016

Label Text

The use of dots in this colorful painting is a direct reference to traditional sand painting. The work tells the story of the Brushtail possum (Janganpa), an important ancestral figure that is all but extinct. The E-shaped marks here represent the tracks left by the possum along its journey across the Warlpiri territory. The artist’s country, Mawurrtji, is the setting of this narrative, wherein a mother gives her daughters in marriage to the Janganpa, but later decides to flee with them. The Janganpa tracks them down, kills them, and turns their bodies into rocks, creating the large hill Mawurrtji, from which the artist’s country gets its name.

Over the course of Topsy Napurrula Fisher’s career—as is common with many of the artists featured in this exhibition—she exclusively painted elements of her traditional country, such as its landscape and animals.

(Exhibition label, 2017)

Not on view

The San Antonio Museum of Art is in the process of digitizing its permanent collection. This electronic record was created from historic documentation that does not necessarily reflect SAMA's complete or current knowledge about the object. Review and updating of such records is ongoing.

Artwork

Brushtail Possum Dreaming (Janganpa Jukurrpa)

Brushtail Possum Dreaming (Janganpa Jukurrpa)