Winpurpurla

Christine Yukenbarri is the daughter of renowned artists Helicopter Tjungurrayi and Lucy Yukenbarri Napanangka. Like her parents, Yukenbarri works through Warlayirti Artists, Wirrimanu (Balgo). In this work, Yukenbarri paints her mother’s Country, Winpurpurla, which is to the south of Wirrimanu. Winpurpurla is a soakage where inta (living water) is always available, and it is surrounded by tali (sandhills). The Tjukurrpa for this Country tells of Nungarrayi, Nampitjin and Napangardi women who camped at Winpurpurla to take advantage of the murlanpa to be found there. Murlanpa is a flower harvested from the ‘sugar tree’, which is eaten raw and is a great delicacy. Yukenbarri rejoices in the importance of this flower through her vibrant use of colour.

Yukenbarri’s mother is recognised for developing a style of painting known locally as kinti-kinti (close-close), where individual dots merge together to create textural fields of colour and this technique is employed throughout this work, especially in the bright, close dotting that centres around the soakage at the centre of the painting. Surrounding this Yukenbarri offers a view of the undulations of sandhills, with sharp shifts in the line directions to the left of these indicating a change in land formation or vegetation.

Christine Yukenbarri has exhibited in over 20 group exhibitions nationally and internationally, most recently in Desert River Sea: Kimberley Art Then & Now at Art Gallery of Western Australia. In 2011 she exhibited in her first solo exhibition that was self-titled at Alcaston Gallery. She was a finalist in the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Awards, 2005 and 2007.