Brushtail Possum Dreaming (Janganpa Jukurrpa)
Artist:
Topsy Napurrula Fisher
(Indigenous Australian, 1940 - 2013)
Place made:Northern Territory, Australia
General region:Oceania
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
Copyright: © Topsy Napurrula Fisher
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)
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
In Collection(s)
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.
This resource has been made possible in part by the National Endowment for the Humanities: Exploring the Human Endeavor.
