Batiks From Warlpiri (Yuendumu)[1]Australian Aboriginal ArtClothMarie-Therese Wisniowski

Preamble
For your convenience I have listed below other posts on Australian aboriginal textiles and artwork.
Untitled Artworks (Exhibition - ArtCloth: Engaging New Visions) Tjariya (Nungalka) Stanley and Tjunkaya Tapaya, Ernabella Arts (Australia)
ArtCloth from the Tiwi Islands
Aboriginal Batik From Central Australia
ArtCloth from Utopia
Aboriginal Art Appropriated by Non-Aboriginal Artists
ArtCloth from the Women of Ernabella
ArtCloth From Kaltjiti (Fregon)
Australian Aboriginal Silk Paintings
Contemporary Aboriginal Prints
Batiks from Kintore
Batiks From Warlpiri (Yuendumu)
Aboriginal Batiks From Northern Queensland
Artworks From Remote Aboriginal Communities
Urban Aboriginal ArtCloths
Western Australian Aboriginal Fabric Lengths
Northern Editions - Aboriginal Prints
Aboriginal Bark Paintings
Contemporary Aboriginal Posters (1984) - (1993)
The Art of Arthur Pambegan Jr
Aboriginal Art - Colour Power
Aboriginal Art - Part I
Aboriginal Art - Part II
The Art of Ngarra
The Paintings of Patrick Tjungurrayi
Warlimpirrnga Tjapaltjarri
Australian Aboriginal Rock Art - Part I
Australian Aboriginal Rock Art - Part II

Introduction
There are approximately 5000 - 6000 indigenous Australians who speak the Warlpiri language. Most of the Warlpiri people live in a few towns and settlements scattered through their traditional land, which is north and west of Alice Springs (Northern Territory, Australia).

Of these settlements and townships, the town of Yuendumu is by far the largest (population 897). It lies 290 kilometers north west of Alice Springs on the Tanami track. The township was established in 1946 by the Native Affairs Department of the Australian Government in order to deliver rations and welfare services to the Warlpiri people. In 1947 a Baptist mission was established there. Today, some of the services and facilities available in Yuendumu include three community stores, school, airstrip, swimming pool, the Warlukurlangu art center, an Aboriginal media organization (PAW Media), a church, an old people's program, women's center and safe house. Yuendumu retains links with other Warlpiri communities within the region.

Location of Yuendumu with respect to other Aboriginal settlements in Central Australia.

The high content of UV light that descends through a dry atmosphere in the Tanami desert give objects stark and sharp definitions. There is no haziness or soft images in this land, and so their images on cloth are similarly defined.

Batik ArtCloth by the Warlpiri people began in 1984, when Peter Toyne an adult educator, facilitated workshops where the Anangu women from Ernabella came to Yuendumu to demonstrate Batik techniques and to share their skills with the Warlpiri women.

Most of the Warlpiri Batik ArtCloths were on cotton, with a few of the early Warlpiri Batiks on silk. The first Warlpiri Batik ArtCloths included pictorial motifs, ranging from bush plants to goannas, while the latter Batiks appeared to be abstract in design they were nevertheless grounded in the practice of body painting for women’s ceremonies. The Batik ArtCloths of the Warlpiri offer strong linear symbols and circle-path configurations, either in secular or sacred contexts.

In the late 1980s the international art market for aboriginal artwork began to accelerate. It was far easier to market and sell art using traditional media – such as canvas paintings – rather than art using non-traditional media – such as cloth. Hence more aboriginal artists gravitated to traditional media and so by 1987 the output of Batik ArtCloth at Yuendumu rapidly declined. See - Warlukurlangu Artists

The National Gallery of Victoria has the largest collection of Aboriginal ArtCloth in Australia. Below are some examples of the Batik ArtCloth of the women artists of Yuendumu.

Raelene Napurrurla Kennedy, Pamapardu Jukurrpa (Flying Ant Dreaming) (1986).
Technique: Batik on cotton.
Size: 83.8 cm (width) x 110.1 cm (length).
Courtesy of reference[1].

Raelene Napurrurla Kennedy, Yumurrpa (1986).
Technique: Batik on silk.
Size: 115.5 cm (width) x 158.5 cm (length).
Courtesy of reference[1].

Neville Japangardi Poulson, Janganpa Jukurrpa (Marsupial Mouse Dreaming) (1986).
Technique: Batik on cotton.
Size: 85 cm (width) x 259.5 cm (length).
Courtesy of reference[1].

Peggy Napurrurla Poulson, Yarla Jukurrpa (Bush Yam Dreaming) (1986).
Technique: Batik on cotton.
Size: 84.8 cm (width) x 257.3 cm (length).
Courtesy of reference[1].

Peggy Napurrurla Poulson, Parrakelia Dreaming (1986).
Technique: Batik on cotton.
Size: 85 cm (width) x 266.5 cm (length).
Courtesy of reference[1].

Beryl Napangardi Robertson, Ngalyipi Manu Karnta Jukurrpa (Snake Vine And Women’s Dreaming) (1986).
Technique: Batik on silk.
Size: 88 cm (width) x 224 cm (length).
Courtesy of reference[1].

Beryl Napangardi Robertson, Karntakurlangu (Women’s Dreaming) (1986).
Technique: Batik on cotton.
Size: 87 cm (width) x 223.8 cm (length).
Courtesy of reference[1].

Beryl Napangardi Robertson, Janyinki (1986).
Technique: Batik on cotton.
Size: 84.8 cm (width) x 199.1 cm (length).
Courtesy of reference[1].

Unknown (1986).
Technique: Batik on cotton.
Size: 88.5 cm (width) x 161 cm (length).
Courtesy of reference[1].

Lottie Napangardi Robertson, Wardapi Manu Wanakiji Jukurrpa (Goanna And Bush Tomato Dreaming) (1986).
Technique: Batik on silk.
Size: 92 cm (width) x 179.5 cm (length).
Courtesy of reference[1].

Jorna Napurrurla Nelson, Ngurlu Manu Yarla Jukurrpa (Little Seed And Bush Yam Dreaming) (1986).
Technique: Batik on cotton.
Size: 86 cm (width) x 188.2 cm (length).
Courtesy of reference[1].

Reference:
[1] J. Ryan et al., Across The Desert – Aboriginal Batik from Central Australia, Council of Trustees of the National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne (2008).