WOMEN ARTISTS FROM WARMUN
PEGGY PATRICK OAM | BETTY CARRINGTON | LORRAINE DAYLIGHT NANCY NODEA | JANE TINMARIE-YALUNGA
10 FEBRUARY - 6 MARCH 2016
From the remote East Kimberley region of Western Australia comes the art of five senior Gija artists whose lives have been driven by the need to put cross-cultural communication and education into practice through art. The exhibition has been curated by the Nancy Sever Gallery and the Warmun Art Centre in Western Australia where the artists live and work.
What connects these artists is an encyclopaedic knowledge of Gija Country, their skills as expert cross-cultural communicators and educators, and the desire to share their art within their own community and with audiences beyond.
The paintings in this exhibition are simultaneously geographical, historical and biographical. Country is mapped with ochre to illustrate the present and the past: the artists’ personal lives and those of their ancestors. They present a rich tapestry of narratives that reveal the contemporaneity of the Ngarranggarni (Dreaming) amidst the currents of colonisation.
These artists use painting to depict places that are hard to access, practices discontinued, knowledge shared and fond memories, so that they may endure. The landscape becomes the forum for discourse derived from and located in memory.
Natural forms and geographic locations articulate cultural histories. Features in the landscape such as hills, trees, rocks, waterholes and rivers appear as motifs, but they represent the history of the land.
Peggy Patrick, who has an Order of Australia, is a very senior law, song and culture woman with a strong exhibition and performance history. A formidable representative of the Gija people on the Kimberley Land Council, she served for nine years as the Chairperson of the Gooda Gooda Community and negotiated for Aboriginal rights in the Argyle Diamond Mine agreement.
Betty Carrington uses a large range of ochre colours, her palette and style often describing strong and painful stories of historical events in the East Kimberley. One recurring visual reference in her paintings is the rolling hills of her father's country, Darrajayin (Springvale Station). She also paints landscapes from her mother's country, Texas Downs Station, as well as Ngarranggarni (Dreaming) places.
Lorraine Daylight was taught to paint by her senior relatives, Hector Jandany and Jack Britten, who were both established Warmun artists of high regard. She has a close connection to her family's country and her main themes come from the traditional oral stories of the Ngarrgooroon or Texas Downs Station country.
Nancy Nodea began painting in 1994, guided by Rover Thomas and Queenie McKenzie. She has explored events that occurred in the East Kimberley over the past 200 years since European settlement. She is one of the strongest historical painters in the East Kimberleys but she also paints her beloved Texas Downs Station country.
Jane Tinmarie-Yalunga, the daughter of Rover Thomas, one of Australia's most famous artists, grew up watching her father paint. She started painting herself in 2000 and her subjects include her family country on Texas Downs Station, local birds and animals and the country around Warmun. She also paints the Dreamings from her father's country, including images from the significant Gurirr Gurirr Joonba (song cycle) that her father received in a dream and which is central to the emergence of the contemporary Warmun art movement
ARTISTS BIOGRAPHICAL DETAILS
PEGGY PATRICK
Peggy Patrick was born in East Kimberley about 1930 and has lived through the profound social changes brought about by the first contacts between her people and Europeans. In 1924 her mother witnessed the massacre of her parents (Peggy's grandparents) and other family members by settlers bent on seizing the fertile plains of the Kimberley frontier. The stories of the 'killing times' were long hidden away but Peggy has never hesitated to confront the region's violent past. As Creative Director of the Neminuwarlin Performance Group she helped to develop and performed in Fire, Fire Burning Bright, a stage show at the Perth and Melbourne International Arts Festivals in 2002 that told the story of the Bedford Downs massacre. Despite this family tragedy, Peggy has always been a strong advocate for reconciliation, in recognition of which she was made a Member of the Order of Australia in 2010. As well as being a senior Gija artist she is respected singer, dancer and storyteller. She has also been a formidable representative of the Gija people on the Kimberley Land Council, serving for nine years as the Chairperson of the Gooda Gooda Community and negotiating for Aboriginal rights in the Argyle Diamond Mine agreement. She generally participates in group shows with other Warnum artists, rather than in solo exhibitions.
Collections.
National Gallery of Australia.
Art Gallery of Western Australia, Perth.
Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney.
Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory, Darwin.
Private and corporate collections in Australia and internationally.
EXTRACTS OF REVIEWS AND WRITINGS
Peggy Patrick AM: A Queen Among Men.
"Whenever Peggy Patrick's name is spoken, be it by Indigenous or non-Indigenous Australians, she receives a special reverence. Peggy Patrick is a woman of singular magnitude.
A prodigious singer, dancer, artist and storyteller, Peggy has performed throughout Australia. Frances Kofod, a linguist who has worked in the East Kimberley since 1971, is collaborating with Peggy on a bilingual autobiography. She believes that Peggy's repertoire of Kimberley song cycles is unparalleled and that her cultural knowledge is akin to an encyclopedia.
As well as her commitment to preserving her culture, Peggy has been a formidable politician; representing Gija people on the Kimberley Land Council, serving for nine years as the Chairperson of the Gooda Gooda Community and negotiating for Aboriginal rights on the Argyle Diamond Mine agreement.
Born in the East Kimberley around 1930, Peggy has lived through the profound social changes of first contact. Before Peggy was born, her mother witnessed the massacre of her parents (Peggy's grandparents) and other family members by Europeans greedy for the fertile plains of the Kimberley frontier. These stories were passed on to Peggy and other children.
For many Aboriginal people the stories of the 'killing times' were hidden away, but Peggy has never been afraid to confront the region's violent past. As Creative Director with Neminuwarlin Performance Group she helped to develop and perform Fire, Fire Burning Bright, a contemporary stage show telling the story of the Bedford Downs massacre. The production was performed at the Perth and Melbourne International Arts Festivals.
In June 2001, the then Governor General of Australia, Sir William Deane, visited the Warmun Community followed by Kerry O'Brien from the ABC current affairs program 7.30 Report. Peggy Patrick and other Gija elders led Sir William to Mistake Creek where Gija people were massacred in the early twentieth century.
After appearing on the program, Peggy's testimony that her grandmother was killed was contested by the conservative historian Keith Windschuttle, who questioned the overall validity of Aboriginal oral history and in particular Peggy's use of the term 'Mum Mum'. Windschuttle assumed that she meant her mother, but Peggy, speaking in Kriol, meant 'Mother's Mother' or Grand-mother. Peggy responded to this attack by contributing to the book, Whitewash (ed R. Manne); a series of essays examining and refuting Windschuttle's historical assertions.
In spite of this controversy, Peggy continues to be a strong advocate for reconciliation. With her cheeky good nature, and charismatic leadership, Peggy has connected with Australians of all backgrounds. In 2010, in recognition of her contribution to culture and for her efforts to bring Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians together, Peggy Patrick was awarded a Member of the Order of Australia .
Now in her eighties, Peggy continues to promote her language and culture to younger generations and it is a great honour to have such a distinguished stateswoman as the face of our new ABC OPEN project, Mother Tongue."
Beth Neate.
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"Peggy Patrick (OAM) is a bold and spirited woman, whose life journey tells the story of an incredibly fierce commitment to and pride for her culture and country in the face of almost inconceivable odds. Domestic help, stockman, nurse, school teacher, truck driver, law woman, singer, dancer and artist, Peggy is today one of the most senior women of Warmun Community.
Peggy was born sometime in the 1930s, and is the now custodian of a number of significant song cycles. One of Peggy’s most iconic works Marlam (Hands) is reminiscent of the body painting that takes place during performances and ceremony. “Marlam that one, finger painting. When we paint our bodies, that’s the one, our body painting. I made that, it’s my story. When we have corroboree.”
Peggy is also renowned for her works that feature the joomooloony (boab trees) of the Kimberley. Of these works, Peggy says, “ this is the joomooloony, that’s for women – ngalingalimboorroo. When women give birth out in the bush, they put their dinyjil [umbilical chord] in the boab tree, to make their babies strong. Then that boab tree belongs to that child.” Rugged up in a pale blue coat she cuts a frail figure in the stark gallery space but her memory is strong, deeply rooted in Gija traditions from the East Kimberley region in far north Western Australia. She says her mob used to sit under that iconic tree, sharing knowledge and stories. She never went to school, did not have a house either. She grew up in the bush. Jumuluny, the boab, used to provide good tucker and medicine as well, adds Peggy Patrick. She says people never got sick then."
http://warmunart.com.au/art/portfolios-list/peggy-patrick/
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"Peggy was born on Greenvale Station in 1928 and her language is Kitja. She is a full blood sister to the late Timmy Timms and former Chairperson of the million acre cattle station - Bow River Station, 25kms north of Warmun, where she spent the majority of her life. The “Bow” was granted to the Timms’ family (after Sam and Maggie Lilly on-sold it) by the Government, with Timmy as Chairperson. At Tim’s funeral, Maggie, then 90 plus, proudly said to the mourners “Your family is my family, and mine is yours”. She is a respected elder of the Kitja Community, tireless teacher of culture to the younger generation, known throughout Australia as a singer, dancer, owner of many corroborees (in particular one which was passed on to her from her late brother, which has been staged several times – at the Perth and Melbourne Art Festivals – entitled Fire, Fire Burning Bright). Peggy was actually instrumental in “cutting” a CD in 1992 with others from Warmun called “Singing up the Country”. She carves, makes digeridoos, weaves - no artefact that Peggy cannot make and pass down to the children. Peggy has been painting for some twenty years – she can sketch, as can all great aboriginal painters – and her brush paintings on slate are magnificent. She has generally participated in joint exhibitions for her community (Warmun), rather than solo exhibitions – and she includes the youngsters to whom she has taught ochre technique."
Warnum Arts Centre
BETTY CARRINGTON
Betty Carrington was born on Texas Downs but grew up with her family at the old Turkey Creek Post Office and Police Station (now the Warmun Art Centre). Her father was a police tracker and her family lived at Turkey Creek until the police station closed, at which point they moved back to Texas Downs. Carrington worked at Texas Downsas a housekeeper and she remembers the long hours of hard work: chopping wood, clearing rocks from roads, cooking and scrubbing floors, to going into the bush looking for stray bullocks. She has travelled extensively throughout Australia representing Kimberley and Gija people in dance and cultural festivals in cities including Canberra, Sydney, Melbourne and Adelaide. She started painting in 1998 when the Warmun Art Centre was established by the leading members of the Warmun Community. Carrington uses a large range of subtle ochre colours, her delicate palette and style often describing strong and painful stories of historical events in the East Kimberley. One recurring visual reference in her paintings is the rolling hills of her father's country, Darrajayin (Springvale Station). She also paints landscapes from her mother's country, Texas Downs Station, as well as Ngarranggarni (Dreaming) places. Carrington uses painting to relate accounts of historical events post-European settlement, such as the Mistake Creek massacre and the Warmun gymkhana where Aboriginal people working on Texas Downs station were first introduced to alcohol. She and her partner Patrick Mung Mung are constant figures at the Warmun Art Centre where the couple actively passes on Ngarrangarni (Dreaming) stories and the techniques needed to master the medium of natural ochres.
Solo Exhibitions
2009 Betty Carrington & Roberta Daylight: Grandmother/Grandaughter - Allison Kelly
Gallery, Melbourne, VIC
2007 Betty Carrington & Patrick Mung Mung - Gallery Gabrielle Pizzi, Melbourne, Vic
2004 Betty Carrington - Allison Kelly Gallery, Melbourne, Vic
2002 Betty Carrington - Allison Kelly Gallery, Melbourne, Vic
Group Exhibitions
2014. Gija Contemporary Art from Warmun - Aboriginal and Pacific Art, Sydney. NSW
2014. Warmun: Gija Contemporary Art of Western Australia - Harvey Art Projects, USA
2014 Warmun Aboriginal Art - Art Images Gallery, Adelaide, SA
2011 Patrick and Betty - Short Street Gallery, Broome, WA
2010 Framed Gallery - Darwin, NT
2010 Warmun - Our Earth Our Story - Art Images Gallery, Norwood, SA
2009 Warmun Ochres: Rich Earth - Gadfly Gallery, Perth, WA
2009 Hedland Art Awards Courthouse Gallery - Port Hedland, WA
2009 Sharing Difference on Common Ground: Mangkaja, Mowanjum, Waringarri,
Warmun - Holmes a Court Gallery, Perth, WA
2009 Warnarran Gelengen : Old Times New Times - Hogarth Galleries, Sydney, NSW
2008 Ten Years of Warmun Ochres - Chapman Gallery, Canberra, ACT
2008 Warmun at Ten, Darwin Aboriginal Art Fair - Darwin, NT
2008 The Women of Warmun: Ten years on - Gadfly Gallery, Perth, WA
2008 East of East Kimberley: Warmun in Asia - ReDot Gallery, Singapore
2008 Mungowum Ngarraknaari Yaarun (Strong Stories, Strong Culture) - Short St. Gallery,
Broome, WA
2008 Red Centre, Red Dot: Celebrating Indigenous Australia - Australian High
Commission, Singapore
2008 Warmun at Ten: A Decade of Warmun Art - Hogarth Gallery, Sydney, NSW
2008 Warmun: Ten Years On, Five Artists - Gallery Gabrielle Pizzi, Melbourne, Vic
2008 Star Crossed lovers of the Kimberleys - Alcaston Gallery, Melbourne, Vic
2007 Warda-Wurrarrem (all kinds of stars) - Raft Artspace, Darwin, NT
2007 Greetings from Turkey Creek - Mary Place Gallery, Sydney, NSW
2007 Warmun Snapshot - Aboriginal Art Fair, Darwin, NT
2007 Ochre, Brushes, Canvas: new work from Warmun - Hogarth Galleries, Sydney, NSW
2006 Warmun Art Centre Presents - Mary Place Gallery, Sydney, NSW
2006 Warmun Arts - Hogarth Galleries, Sydney, NSW
2006 Bungle Bungles - Short Street Gallery, Broome, WA
2005 Gija: across the border - Raft Artspace, Darwin, NT
2005 Warmun Group Show - Framed Gallery, Darwin, NT
2005 New Work from Warmun - Gadfly Gallery, Perth, WA
2005 Waterhole Country - Short Street Gallery, Broome, WA
2005 Affordable Art Show - Flinders Lane Gallery, Melbourne, Vic
2005 London Affordable Art Show - Flinders Lane Gallery, Melbourne, Vic
2005 Warmun Womens Show - Alcaston Gallery, Melbourne, Vic
2004 Die inneren und die äußeren Dinge - Stadtgalerie Bamberg, Germany
2004 Womens Figurative Show - Short Street Gallery, Broome, WA
2004 Warmun Group Show - Hogarth Galleries, Sydney, NSW
2004 Ochres Group Show - Gallery Gondwana, Alice Springs, NT
2004 Tibet Meets Warmun - Fremantle Arts Centre, Fremantle, WA
2003 Artist in Residence Exhibition - Coomalie Culture Centre, Bachelor Institute, NT
2003 East Kimberley Exhibition - Short Street Gallery, Broome, WA
2003 True Stories: art of the East Kimberley - Art Gallery of NSW, Sydney, NSW
2003 Warmun Group Show - Framed Gallery, Darwin, NT
2003 Big Country: Works from the Flinders University Art Museum Collection - Adelaide,
2002 Recent Works from the Warmun (Turkey Creek) Community - Framed Gallery, Darwin,
2002 Thornquest Gallery - Gold Coast, Qld
2002 Warmun Ochre Paintings - Bett Gallery, Hobart, Tas
2002 Women of the East Kimberley - Tandanya- National Aboriginal Cultural Institute, Adelaide,
2002 Kult(o)urnacht - Aboriginal Art Galerie Baehr, Speyer, Germany
2002 Boundless, a collaboration with Art Gallery of WA - Country Arts WA, WA
2002 Garmerrun: all our country - Flinders University Art Museum, Adelaide, SA
2001 Grande Opening - Thornquest Gallery, Gold Coast, Qld
2001 Ochres Show - Short Street Gallery, Broome, WA
2001 Past Modern - Short Street Gallery, Sydney Show, NSW
2001 New Paintings from the Warmun Art Centre - Fireworks Gallery, Brisbane, Qld
2001 Das Verborgene im Sichtbaren, Staedtische Galerie - Wolfsburg, Germany
2001 Peter Baillie Acquisitive Art Exhibition - Flinders University Art Museum, Adelaide, 2001 ‘Erzahlungen uber die Dinges des Lebens: Kunst aus Australien (Recounting the essence of life: art from Australia) - Kunstforum HDZ, Bad Oeynhausen, Germany
2001 Short on Size - Short Street Gallery, Broome, WA
2000 Anthropological Museum - Freiburg, Germany
2000 Ben Grady Gallery - Canberra, ACT
2000 Kunst der Aborigines - Galerie Baehr, Dromagen, Germany
2000 Kunst der Aborigines - Galerie Baehr, Leverkusen, Germany
2000 Hogarth Galleries - Paddington, Sydney, NSW
2000 Melbourne Art Fair (in conjunction with Bett Gallery & Chrysalis Publishing) -
2000 Bett Gallery - Hobart, Tas
1999 Japinka Gallery - Fremantle, WA
1999 East Kimberley Art Award (work preselected) - Kununurra, WA
1999 Karen Brown Gallery - Darwin, NT
1999 Aboriginal Art (in association with Aboriginal Art Gallerie Báhr, Speyer) - IHK Wuerzburg, Germany
1999 Short Street Gallery - Broome, WA
1999 Hogarth Galleries - Paddington, Sydney, NSW
Bibliography
Stewart, M. Ngalangangpum Jarrakpu Purrurn: Mother and Child (Broome. Magabala.1999)
Collections
Artbank
Broadmeadows Hospital Collection. Melbourne.
Flinders University Art Museum. Adelaide
Harland Collection. NSW.
Kaplan Collection. USA.
Kerry Stokes Collection. Perth.
Laverty Collection. Sydney.
Museum and Art Gallery of the Norther Territory. Darwin.
National Australia Bank Collection.
LORRAINE DAYLIGHT
Lorraine Daylight was taught to paint by her senior relatives, Hector Jandany and Jack Britten, who were both established Warmun artists of high regard. Hector was Daylight's ganggayi (grandfather). Her father, Gordon Barney, is also a well-known Warmun artist. Daylight has a close connection to her family's country, mainly because of the many bush trips organised by the senior men to go out fishing and hunting for bush turkey, kangaroo and goanna throughout the year. Daylight takes advantage of these trips and often sends her three boys to experience and learn the bush ways. Her main themes come from the traditional oral stories of the Ngarrgooroon or Texas Downs Station country. In 1999, Lorraine won the Encouragement Award at the highly competitive East Kimberley Art Award.
Group Exhibitions
2016 Women Artists from Warmun - Nancy Sever Gallery, Canberra, ACT
2014 Warmun: Gija Contemporary Art of W.A. - Harvey Art Projects, USA
2014 Warmun Aboriginal Art - Art Images Gallery, Adelaide, SA
2011 Where Knowledge Comes From, Gadfly Gallery - Perth Concert Hall, Perth, WA
2010 Ochres of the Kimberley - Tunbridge Gallery, Margaret River, WA
2010 Warmun - Our Earth Our Story - Art Images Gallery, Norwood, SA
2010 Putipula Gallery - Noosa, QLD
2010 Old Peoples’ Stories, Young Peoples’ Way - Gecko Gallery, Broome, WA
2009 Ochre Dreaming: Stories from the East Kimberley - ReDot Gallery Singapore
2008 Warmun at Ten - Darwin Aboriginal Art Fair, Darwin. NT
2008 Mungowum Ngarraknaari Yaarun (Strong Stories, Strong Culture) - Short St. Gallery, Broome, WA
2008 MODAA + Tribal eARTh Gallery - Los Angeles, USA
2008 The Women of Warmun: Ten years on - Gadfly Gallery, Perth, WA
2008 East of East Kimberley: Warmun in Asia - ReDot Gallery, Singapore
2007 Warmun Snapshot - Darwin Aboriginal Art Fair, Darwin, NT
2007 Warmun Artists in New York - Ralph Pucci Gallery, Soho, New York, USA
2007 Dog Dreamings - Seva Frangos Art, Perth, WA
2007 Treading Lightly - Terra Australis at Ethnographic Museum, Stockholm, Sweden
2005 Gija - Across the Border - Raft Artspace, Darwin, NT
2004 Warmun Group Show - Hogarth Galleries, Sydney, NSW
2002 Kimberley Artists Group Show - Glen Eira Arts Complex, Melbourne, Vic
2002 Framed Gallery Group Show - Darwin, NT
2001 Short on Size - Short St. Gallery, Broome, WA
NANCY NODEA
Nancy Nodea grew up and worked most of her early life on Texas Downs cattle station in the East Kimberley region of Western Australia. There she worked in a wide range of tasks including checking bores, roadbuilding, milking the goats, making butter and general housework. She began painting in 1994, guided by Rover Thomas and Queenie McKenzie. Nodea has explored contemporary stories that occurred in the East Kimberley over the past 200 years since white settlement. She has told the stories of the white cameleers and massacre sites not far from Warmun in her paintings. She is one of the strongest historical painters at Warmun but she also paints her beloved Texas Downs Station country. Nodea and other artists who grew up on this station take an active role in taking young people out to country to hunt, fish and reconnect with traditional ways of living with the land.
Group Exhibitions
2016 Women Artists from Warmun - Nancy Sever Gallery, Canberra, ACT
2010 Surface of Our Dreaming - Paintings by Gija Women - Chapman Gallery, Canberra,
2010 Warmun - Our Earth Our Story - Art Images Gallery, Norwood, SA
2010 Ochres of the Kimberley - Tunbridge Gallery, Margaret River, WA
2010 Rising Landscapes - Gallery Tjukurrpa, Manly, NSW
2010 Framed Gallery - Darwin, NT
2009 Warmun Ochres: Rich Earth - Gadfly Gallery, Perth, WA
2009 Best of the Best 2 - Framed Gallery, Darwin, NT
2009 Warnarran Gelengen : Old Times, New Times - Hogarth Galleries, Sydney, NSW
2009 Sharing Difference on Common Ground: Mangkaja, Mowanjum, Waringarri, Warmun - Holmes a Court Gallery, Perth, WA
2008 Warmun at Ten, Darwin Aboriginal Art Fair - Darwin, NT
2008 East of East Kimberley: Warmun in Asia - ReDot Gallery, Singapore
2008 The Women of Warmun: Ten years on - Gadfly Gallery, Perth, WA
2008 Warmun at Ten: A Decade of Warmun Art - Hogarth Gallery, Sydney, NSW
2008 Star Crosse Lovers of the Kimberleys - Alcaston Gallery, Melbourne, Vic
2008 Mungowum Ngarraknaari Yaarun (Strong Stories, Strong Culture) - Short St. Gallery, Broome, WA
2007 Greetings from Turkey Creek - Mary Place Gallery, Sydney, NSW
2007 Warmun Snapshot - Aboriginal Art Fair, Darwin, NT
2007 Ochre, Brushes, Canvas: new work from Warmun - Hogarth Galleries, Sydney, NSW
2006 Warmun Arts - Hogarth Galleries, Sydney, NSW
2006 Warmun Art Centre Presents - Mary Place Gallery, Sydney, NSW
2006 Women from Texas Downs - Gadfly Gallery, Dalkeith, Perth
2006 What Bird is That? - Alcaston Gallery, Melbourne
2005 Gija: across the border - Raft Artspace, Darwin, NT
2005 Waterhole Country - Short Street Gallery, Broome, WA
2005 New Work from Warmun - Gadfly Gallery, Perth, WA
2005 Warmun Group Show - Framed Gallery, Darwin, NT
2004 Womens Figurative Show - Short Street Gallery, Broome, WA
2004 Big Country Show - Gallery Gondwana, Alice Springs, NT
2002 Recent Works from the Warmun Community (Turkey Creek) - Framed Gallery, Darwin, NT
2002 Women of the East Kimberley - Tandanya, National Aboriginal Cultural Institute, Adelaide, SA
2002 Coolmalie Culture Centre - Batchelor, NT
2002 All that Gija Country - Flinders University Art Museum, Adelaide, SA
2002 Thornquest Gallery - Gold Coast, Qld
2001 Ochres - Short Street Gallery, Broome, WA
2001 New Paintings from Warmun Art Centre - Fireworks Gallery, Brisbane, Qld
2001 Grande Opening Exhibition, Thornquest Gallery - Gold Coast, Qld
2001 Guildford Grammar School Art Exhibition - Perth, WA
2000 Hogarth Galleries - Sydney, NSW
Collections
Artbank
JANE YALUNGA
Jane Yalunga Tinmarie was born in Wyndham, Western Australia. She went to school in Wyndham as a young girl, then moved to Warmun community in the East Kimberley area of Westerm Australia, where she now lives. She worked as a teacher's aide at the Ngalangangpum Community School in Warmun for many years. As the daughter of one of Australia's most famous artists, Rover Thomas, Jane grew up watching her father paint. She started painting herself in 2000 at the Warmun Art Centre and her subjects include her family country on Texas Downs Station, local birds and animals and the country around Warmun. She also paints the Dreamings from her father's country, including images from the significant Gurirr Gurirr Joonba (song cycle) that her father received in a dream and which is central to the emergence of the contemporary Warmun Art Movement. Jane lives in Warmun (Turkey Creek) with her five children, her partner and her extended family. She also works as a studio assistant at Warmun Art Centre.
Group Exhibitions
2016 Women Artists from Warmun - Nancy Sever Gallery, Canberra, ACT
2011 (Re) - Currents of Warrambany - Gecko Gallery, Broome, WA
2010 Next Generation - Warmun Artists - Tineriba Gallery, SA
2010 Old Peoples’ Stories, Young Peoples’ Way - Gecko Gallery, Broome, WA
2009 Warnarran Gelengen : Old Times New Times - Hogarth Galleries, Sydney, NSW
2008 Palya Art in Sydney - Mary Place Gallery, Sydney, NSW
2008 East of East Kimberley: Warmun in Asia - ReDot Gallery, Singapore
2008 The Women of Warmun: Ten years on - Gadfly Gallery, Perth, WA
2007 Warmun Snapshot - Darwin Aboriginal Art Fair, Darwin, NT
2007 Palya in Melbourne - Melbourne, Vic
2007 Ngarrangkarni & Bible Stories - Alcaston Gallery, Melbourne, Vic
2006 Warmun Art Centre Presents - Mary Place Gallery, Sydney, NSW
2006 What Bird Is That? - Alcaston Gallery, Melbourne, Vic
2006 Women from Texas Downs - Gadfly Gallery, Perth, WA