Yurrampi Jukurrpa (Honey Ant Dreaming) - Colin Jakamarra Gibson

This painting depicts the Yurrampi Jukurrpa (Honey Ant Dreaming), a story of particular significance to Warlpiri people of Yuendumu, through which this Jukurrpa passes. For this reason, Yuendumu is also known as Yurrampi. The custodians (kirda) of the Dreaming are Japangardi and Japanangka men, together with Napangardi and Napanangka women. The ancestral honey ants travelled from Yulumu in the southeast westward, creating underground passages and chambers that formed the soakages still present today.

As they moved through sites including Yulyupunyu, Yamparlinyi, and Yakurrukaji, the honey ant ancestors established key water sources. The soakage at Yakurrukaji supplied water to the original Yuendumu settlement and lies beneath the community today. From there, the ancestors travelled on to Wanakurduparnta, where some later returned underground and died at earlier sites. The Yurrampi Jukurrpa overlaps at Yakurrukaji with other Dreamings, including Wakapartari Jukurrpa (mulga worm) and Jipilyaku Jukurrpa (duck).

Honey ants (yurrampi or yunkaranyi) are a prized delicacy, valued for both their sweetness and the effort required to harvest them. Their deep underground nests are located by tracking foraging ants and identifying signs in the soil that indicate nearby chambers. In contemporary Warlpiri painting, this Jukurrpa is represented through traditional iconography: concentric circles denote soakages, connecting lines show ancestral tracks, and straight lines refer to karlangu (digging sticks) used to extract the honey ants.