Janganpakurlu manu jajirdikirli (Possum and Native Cat)
2000
from the Yuendumu doors 2000
- Medium
- etching
- Measurements
- 18.5 × 13.2 cm (plate) 35.6 × 27.5 cm (sheet)
- Place/s of Execution
- Yuendumu, Northern Territory
- Edition
- ed. 32/75
- Inscription
- inscribed in pencil l.l.: 32/75
inscribed in pencil l.c.: Door 19
inscribed in pencil l.r.: PS - Accession Number
- 2001.833.19
- Department
- First Nations Australia
- Credit Line
- National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
Gift of Alison and Tony Kelly, 2001
© Paddy Japaljarri Sims, Paddy Japaljarri StewartLicensed by Copyright Agency, Australia
This digital record has been made available on NGV Collection Online through the generous support of The Vizard Foundation - Gallery location
- Not on display
- About this work
-
Through spiritual, cultural and ceremonial beliefs and practices sustained through oral histories and art, many First Nations communities maintain enduring relationships with animals such as the quoll (labeled native cats since colonisation). One example is Paddy Japaljarri Sims and Paddy Japaljarri Stewart’s Janganpakurlu manu jajirdikirli, which depicts the Warlpiri possum Dreaming: a saga centring on a possum and a quoll who fight, eventually becoming initiated men through the violent process. The western quoll has been extinct in Warlpiri Country since approximately the 1960s; however, works such as this one illustrate the endurance of First Peoples’ cultural stories.
