Queenie Nungarrayi Stewart
ABOUT:
Queenie Nungarrayi Stewart was born in 1972 at Yuendumu in central Australia. Queenie is the only daughter of Paddy Stewart Japaljarri, Chairman of Warlukurlangu Art Centre and one of the main artists who participated in painting significant Dreamings on the Yuendumu School Doors, which later became a well known collection.
Queenie commenced painting with the Warlukurlangu Art Centre in 1997. With her father’s guidance, together they paint collaborative work, depicting iconography of traditional Dreaming stories. Queenie and her father Paddy are custodians of their country, Yuendumu in Central Australia.
Queenie depicts in her work traditional iconography which represents stories from the Dreamtime, particular sites and other elements associated with her country.
Queenie Nungarrayi Stewart paints at the Yuendumu community 300km north-west of Alice Springs in the Northern Territory of Australia. Established in 1985, Queenie has been in exhibitions both in Australia and around the world . Show casine her traditional Warlpiri culture and an essential part of Yuendumu’s community life.
The common brush-tail possum travels all over Warlpiri country. ‘Janganpa’ are nocturnal animals that often nest in the hollows of white gum trees. This story comes from a big hill called Mawurrji, west of Yuendumu. A group of ‘janganpa’ ancestors resided there and every night they would go out in search of food. Their hunting trips took them all over the area.
A Nampijinpa women was living at Mawurrji with her two daughters. She gave her daughters in marriage to a janganpa ancestor but later decided to run away with the girls. The janganpa ancestor angrily pursued the woman tracking them to Mawurrji where he killed them with a stone axe. Their bodies are now rocks at this place. Warlpiri people perform a young mens initiation ceremony, which involves the brush tail possum dreaming. The possum tracks are represented as ‘E’ shaped figures and concentric circles are used to depict the trees in which the possum live.
Queenie Stewart is the only daughter of Paddy Japaljarri Stewart, the Chairman of the Yuendumu Artist Centre, one of its founding and most long-standing artists and also one of the main artists of the Yuendumu School Doors.
Queenie’s main Dreamings are the kangaroo, native possum, yam, eagle, goanna, bush cabbage, frog, native cat, banded rock wallaby, native
fuschia and meat ant. In 2005 Queenie exhibited her work in the Jukurrpa Wiri ‘Important Dreaming Stories’ at the Araluen Galleries in Alice
Springs, Northern Territory
Queenie Nungarrayi Stewart paints for the Warlukurlangu Artists Aboriginal Corporation located at the Yuendumu community 300km north-west of Alice Springs in the Northern Territory of Australia. Established in 1985, Warlukurlangu Artists Aboriginal Corporation is a fully Aboriginal owned and governed art centre with over 600 members. One hundred percent of the proceeds from the sale of all art works go directly back to the artists and their community projects.
The art centre is famous for its gloriously colourful acrylic paintings with many of its members work collectable having been featured in hundreds of exhibitions both in Australia and around the world .The art centre is both a stronghold of traditional Warlpiri culture and an essential part of Yuendumu’s community life.
The common brush-tail possum travels all over Warlpiri country. ‘Janganpa’ are nocturnal animals that often nest in the hollows of white gum trees. This story comes from a big hill called Mawurrji, west of Yuendumu. A group of ‘janganpa’ ancestors resided there and every night they would go out in search of food. Their hunting trips took them all over the area.
A Nampijinpa women was living at Mawurrji with her two daughters. She gave her daughters in marriage to a janganpa ancestor but later decided to run away with the girls. The janganpa ancestor angrily pursued the woman tracking them to Mawurrji where he killed them with a stone axe.
Their bodies are now rocks at this place. Warlpiri people perform a young mens initiation ceremony, which involves the brush tail possum dreaming. The possum tracks are represented as ‘E’ shaped figures and concentric circles are used to depict the trees in which the possum live.