Lynette Nangala Singleton
Artist Profile
Lynette Nangala Singleton was born in 1970 in Alice Springs Hospital, the closest hospital to Yuendumu, a remote Aboriginal community 290 km north-west of Alice Springs in the NT of Australia. She grew up in Yuendumu, attended the local school after which she completed her schooling at Yarara College, an Aboriginal boarding school in Alice Springs. When she finished school she returned to Yuendumu. She is married and although she has no children she has many nieces. She now lives in Nyirripi, an Aboriginal community 160 km north-west of Yuendumu. Lynette has been painting with Warlukurlangu Artists Aboriginal Corporation since 2008. She paints her Father’s Jukurrpa stories, Dreamings which relate directly to her land, in particular a rock hole west of Lake McKay. These stories have been passed down by her father and her father’s father for millennia. When Lynette is not painting she enjoys hunting for goanna.
In Lynette’s multiple paintings depicting the Puyurru Water Dreaming, traditional iconography is used to illustrate the Jukurrpa, (dreamtime.) Lynette’s composition is constructed using curved and straight lines to represent the ‘ngawarra’ (flood waters) running through the landscape. The shorter bars, which add to Lynette’s stunning and meticulous works represent the cumulus and stratocumulus clouds.
‘Two Jangala men, rainmakers, sang the rain, unleashing a giant storm that collided with another storm from Wapurtali. The two storms travelled across the country. from Karlipinpa near Kintore. A ‘Kirrkarlanji’ (brown falcon, or Falco Berigora) carried the storm further west until it dropped the storm at Purlungyanu, forming an enormous ‘Maliri’ (lake)’. A ‘mulju’, (soakage) exists in the place today.
'At Puyurru the bird dug up a ‘warnayarra’ (rainbow serpent.) The serpent carried water with it to create another large lake named Jillyiumpa, close to an outstation in Lynette’s country.’
The site depicted in this painting is Puyurru, west of Yuendumu. In the usually dry creek beds are ‘mulju’ (soakages), or naturally occurring wells. The 'kirda' (owners) for this site are Nangala/Nampijinpa women and Jangala/Jampijinpa men. Two Jangala men, rainmakers, sang the rain, unleashing a giant storm. The storm travelled across the country from the east to the west, initially travelling with a ‘pamapardu Jukurrpa’ (termite Dreaming) from Warntungurru to Warlura, a waterhole 8 miles east of Yuendumu. At Warlura, a gecko called Yumariyumari blew the storm on to Lapurrukurra and Wilpiri. Bolts of lightning shot out at Wirnpa (also called Mardinymardinypa) and at Kanaralji. At this point the Dreaming track also includes the ‘kurdukurdu mangkurdu Jukurrpa’ (children of the clouds Dreaming). The water Dreaming built hills at Ngamangama using baby clouds and also stuck long pointy clouds into the ground at Jukajuka, where they can still be seen today as rock formations.
The termite Dreaming eventually continued west to Nyirripi, a community approximately 160 km west of Yuendumu. The water Dreaming then travelled from the south over Mikanji, a watercourse with soakages northwest of Yuendumu. At Mikanji, the storm was picked up by a ‘kirrkarlanji’ (brown falcon [Falco berigora]) and taken farther north. At Puyurru, the falcon dug up a giant ‘warnayarra’ (rainbow serpent). The serpent carried water with it to create another large lake, Jillyiumpa, close to an outstation in this country. The ‘kirda’ (owners) of this story are Jangala men and Nangala women. After stopping at Puyurru, the water Dreaming travelled on through other locations including Yalyarilalku, Mikilyparnta, Katalpi, Lungkardajarra, Jirawarnpa, Kamira, Yurrunjuku, and Jikaya before moving on into Gurindji country to the north.
In contemporary Warlpiri paintings, traditional iconography is used to represent the ‘Jukurrpa’ (Dreaming). Short dashes are often used to represent ‘mangkurdu’ (cumulus & stratocumulus clouds), and longer, flowing lines represent ‘ngawarra’ (flood waters). Small circles are used to depict ‘mulju’ (soakages) and river bed.
