Jorna was born in c.1930 and passed away in 2011. This painting tells the story of the brush-tail possum Dreaming. Those possums are nocturnal animals that often nest in the hollows of white gum trees. A common story is about an ancestor who travelled all over the lands visiting various sites during the Dreamtime, including one site called Jangankurlangu, meaning literally "belonging to possum". Over the last 100 years or so the Possums became extinct, most likely due to feral cat predation and the changes to their habitat caused by the introduction of cattle and other feral animals. In earlier times those Possums have been considered good meat. In traditional Warlpiri iconography wavy lines and "E" shapes are used to depict the tracks that the Possums left as they moved around.

Jorna Nelson: Life, Art, and Legacy

Early Life and Background

Born between 1928 and 1932 near Mt Doreen, west of Yuendumu, Jorna Nelson was a Warlpiri speaker who spent her life in the Northern Territory of Australia. She lived in both Yuendumu, a remote Aboriginal community located 290 kilometres north-west of Alice Springs, and at times in Nyirripi, another Aboriginal community situated 160 kilometres further north-west of Yuendumu. Mt Doreen lies between Nyirripi and Yuendumu, marking the heartland of her country.

As a young girl, Jorna lived a nomadic hunter-gatherer lifestyle with her parents, traversing the desert country and learning about the land in the traditional way. The community of Yuendumu was established in 1946, followed by a Baptist mission in 1947. By 1955, like many Warlpiri people, Jorna and her family had settled in the town.

Artistic Career and Dreamings

Jorna Nelson began painting in 1987. Her works drew upon her mother and father’s Jukurrpa stories—Dreamings that were intrinsically linked to her ancestral land, its features, and the plants and animals inhabiting it. These stories had been passed down through generations for millennia.

She was known for painting stories about sacred sites, as well as animals and plants commonly found in the country surrounding her community. Traditional foods and bush tucker continue to be hunted and gathered today, and Jorna cherished going out hunting with her family and friends. Their hunts included goanna, kangaroo, snakes, and witchetty grubs, along with bush tucker such as native currants, bush potato, and bush banana.

Group Exhibitions

·       November 1990 – Hogarth Gallery of Dreams, Sydney

·       September 1991 – Darwin Performing Arts Centre, Darwin

·       November 1991 – Hogarth Gallery of Dreams, Sydney

·       February 1995 – Cultureel Centrum Berchem, Antwerp

·       April 1995 – Kloosterkazerne, Breda

·       December 1995 – INMA Foundation, Amsterdam

·       January 2000 – World Baptist Conference, Melbourne Exhibition Centre, Melbourne

·       June 2002 – Chapman Gallery, Canberra

·       May 2003 – ‘Yimi Pirrijirdi – Strong Stories’, Alison Kelly Gallery, Melbourne

·       July 2003 – Aboriginal Art, January Murphy Gallery, Brisbane

·       August 2003 – ‘Desert Mob’, Araluen Centre, Alice Springs

·       October 2003 – Kurruwarri Wirijarlu – Big Story’, Hogarth Gallery, Sydney

·       February 2004 – ‘Painting Country’, Thornquest Gallery, Queensland

·       February 2004 – Jeffrey Moose Gallery, Seattle, Washington, USA

·       February 2004 – ‘WAAA Collection’, Flinders Museum, Adelaide, SA

·       March 2004 – ‘Dreaming Stories’, Indigenart, Perth

·       February 2005 – ‘WAAA Collection’, Flinders Museum, Adelaide, SA

·       April 2005 – ‘Warlukurlangu Collection’, Araluen Galleries, Alice Springs, NT

·       April 2005 – Jukurrpa Wiri ‘Important Dreaming Stories’, Araluen Galleries, Alice Springs, NT

·       June 2005 – Group Show, Alison Kelly Gallery, Melbourne, VIC

·       July 2005 – ‘Recent Works’, Short Street Gallery, Broome, Western Australia

·       November 2005 – Warlukurlangu Artists 20 Year Anniversary Exhibition, Japingka Gallery, Perth

·       January 2006 – Open Doors, Aboriginal Art Museum, Utrecht

·       February 2007 – Emerging, Artists from Nyirrpi, Gallery Gondwana, Sydney, NSW

·       July 2007 – Desert Dreamings: earth + water, Artitja Fine Art, Perth, WA

Collections

·       Aboriginal Art Museum, Utrecht

·       Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney

·       Australian Museum, Sydney

·       Flinders University Art Museum, Melbourne

·       Gordon Darling Foundation, Canberra

·       South Australian Museum

Bibliographies

·       1998 – Morphy, H. ‘Aboriginal Art’, Phaidon Press Limited, London

·       1999 – Morphy, H. and Boles, M.S. (eds.) ‘Art from the Land’, University of Virginia Press, Virginia, U.S.A