Shanna Napanangka Williams
Aboriginal Warlpiri Woman
Shanna is the great grand-daughter of Paddy Japaljarri Sims (Dec) and Bessie Nakamarra Sims (Dec), two of the founding artists of Warlukurlangu Artists Aboriginal Corporation, an Aboriginal owned and governed Art Centre located in Yuendumu. Shanna has been painting with Warlukurlangu Artists Aboriginal Corporation, since 2002, when she was 14 years of age. She began painting during the school holidays when the art centre ran cultural maintenance programs for the school children. Shanna paints her father’s Jukurrpa stories, Dreamings, which relate directly to her land, its features and the plants and animals that inhabit it.
Shanna uses an unrestricted palette, building on traditions that stretch back at least fifty millennia, developing a modern interpretation of her traditional culture. The Sims family is indicative of how community based the art centre is with 4 generations actively participating in art centre activities at the same time. Shanna attended the local Yuendumu School. She is now a full time mum looking after her two children Ivan and Diona. When she is not painting or looking after her children she likes to go hunting. She particularly likes hunting for Honey ants.
@warlu_artArtworks
Napaljarri-warnu Jukurrpa
The Napaljarri-warnu Jukurrpa (seven sisters Dreaming) depicts the story of the seven ancestral Napaljarri sisters who are found in the night sky today in the cluster of seven stars in the constellation Taurus, more commonly known as the Pleiades. The Pleiades are seven women of the Napaljarri skin group and are often depicted in paintings of this Jukurrpa carrying the Jampijinpa man 'wardilyka' (Bush Turkey) who is in love with the Napaljarri-warnu and who is represented by the Orion's Belt cluster of stars.
Napaljarri-warnu Jukurrpa
The Napaljarri-warnu Jukurrpa (seven sisters Dreaming) depicts the story of the seven ancestral Napaljarri sisters who are found in the night sky today in the cluster of seven stars in the constellation Taurus, more commonly known as the Pleiades. Jukurra-jukurra, the morning star, is a Jakamarra man who is in love with the seven sisters and if often seen chasing them across the nights sky.
Napaljarri-warnu Jukurrpa
The Napaljarri-warnu Jukurrpa (seven sisters Dreaming) depicts the story of the seven ancestral Napaljarri sisters who are found in the night sky today in the cluster of seven stars in the constellation Taurus, more commonly known as the Pleiades. The Pleiades are seven women of the Napaljarri skin group and are often depicted in paintings of this Jukurrpa carrying the Jampijinpa man 'wardilyka' (bush turkey) who is in love with the Napaljarri-warnu and who represents the Orion's Belt cluster of stars.
