Michael Nelson Jagamara
Warlpiri / Luritja people NT c.1945-2020
Two Dreamings 1987
Acrylic on linen
213 x 563 cm
BCEC Art Collection
Michael Nelson Jagamara was a leading figure of the Papunya Tula art movement. Born at Pikilyi (Vaughan Springs), he began painting in the early 1980s. Renowned internationally, his paintings were translated into a 196 square metre mosaic in the forecourt of Australia’s Parliament House in 1988. His father, uncle and brothers taught him traditional art, through ceremonial ground designs and on shields.
Two Dreamings are represented in this painting. The central roundel represents a secret cave at Warlujarrayi, near Mount Singleton. Two Kangaroo Men, indicated by the half-arrow symbols, inadvertently cooked and ate a joey, thinking it was a bandicoot, near this cave. Aroused by the cooking smells, Warnarra, a serpent, came to investigate. Seeing that an offence was being committed, Warnarra was about to kill the Kangaroo Men, who luckily escaped death by fleeing into the cave.
Near Warlujarrayi, at Mowirriji, possum ancestors also passed. Their tracks are the flowing lines with adjacent small red paw prints.
Two Dreamings can be viewed in Plaza Gallery.