Virginia Napaljarri Sims
Artist Profile
Virginia Napaljarri Sims was born in Royal Perth Hospital, a long way from her home in Nyirripi, a remote aboriginal community located approximately 430km from Alice Springs in the Northern Territory of Australia. She is the granddaughter of Ena Nakamarra Gibson, a major Warlpiri artist. Virgina grew up in Nyirripi but later was sent to Cairns to finish her school at Djarragun College. She completed Year 10 before returning home.
Although she was taught art at school it was her Grandmother that inspired her to paint. When she was young she would listen to her grandmother’s jukurrpa and watch her paint.
She began painting with Warlukurlangu Artists Aboriginal Corporation in 2017. She paints her Grandmother’s
Mina Mina Jukurrpa
(Mina Mina Dreaming – Ngalyipi) - a very important women’s dreaming site west of Nyirripi near Lake Mackay and the WA border. These stories have been passed down to her by her grandmother and her grandmother’s mother before her for millennia. Virginia loves colour and uses an unrestricted palette and enjoys painting patterns to depict her jukurrpa.
Virginia is married to Brad James and when she is not painting she loves cleaning house, watching movies and cooking shows on TV.
This ‘Jukurrpa’ (Dreaming) comes from Mina Mina, a very important women’s Dreaming site far to the west of Yuendumu near Lake Mackay and the WA border. The ‘kirda’ (owners) of this Dreaming are Napangardi/Napanangka women and Japangardi/Japanangka men; the area is sacred to Napangardi and Napanangka women. There are a number of ‘mulju’ (water soakages) and a ‘maluri’ (clay pan) at Mina Mina.
In the Dreamtime, ancestral women danced at Mina Mina and ‘karlangu’ (digging sticks) rose up out of the ground. The women collected the digging sticks and then travelled on to the east, dancing, digging for bush tucker, collecting ‘ngalyipi’ (snake vine [Tinospora smilacina]), and creating many places as they went. ‘Ngalyipi’ is a rope-like creeper that grows up the trunks and limbs of trees, including ‘kurrkara’ (desert oak [Allocasuarina decaisneana]). It is used as a ceremonial wrap and as a strap to carry ‘parraja’ (coolamons) and ‘ngami’ (water carriers). ‘Ngalyipi’ is also used to tie around the forehead to cure headaches, and to bind cuts.
The women stopped at Karntakurlangu, Janyinki, Parapurnta, Kimayi, and Munyuparntiparnti, sites spanning from the west to the east of Yuendumu. When they stopped, the women dug for bush foods like ‘jintiparnta’ (desert truffle [Elderia arenivaga]). The Dreaming track eventually took them far beyond Warlpiri country. The track passed through Coniston in Anmatyerre country to the east, and then went on to Alcoota and Aileron far to the northeast of Yuendumu and eventually on into Queensland.
In Warlpiri paintings, traditional iconography is used to represent the Jukurrpa and other elements. In many paintings of this Jukurrpa, sinuous lines are used to represent the ‘ngalyipi’ (snake vine). Concentric circles are often used to represent the ‘jintiparnta’ (desert truffles) that the women have collected, while straight lines can be used to depict the ‘karlangu’ (digging sticks).