Pirlinyanu, 2009 by Julie Nangala Robertson 40x51cm Stretched canvas on frame, Cat 13947JR

Winner of the 2023 Telstra Aboriginal Art Award in Best Painting Category , Julie Nangala Robertson, depicts her Ngapa Jukurrpa (Water Dreaming), which is associated with her father’s traditional country of Pirlinyanu, a rocky outcrop in the Tanami Desert, west of Yuendumu and towards the WA border.

This rocky country with its significant waterholes and plentiful bush tucker is one of many significant locations for the Water Dreaming because if you know which rocks to move you always have access to fresh water in the deep natural occurring wells of Pirlinyanu. Without this knowledge one could imagine there was no water in this desert landscape.

Using an aerial perspective along with a more recently established and distinctive monochromatic palette, Julie’s current paintings have become works of extraordinary optical brilliance as she alternates the size of dots throughout her work as well as building up specific shapes or reference points often by repeated overdotting.

The eldest of the five daughters of Dorothy Napangardi Robinson has recently changed the spelling of her surname to Robertson, feeling that her father, Windy, had misspelt it as Julie's other relatives in Yuendumu are all Robertson. Windy had two wives, Rene Robinson and Dorothy Robinson.