Possum Dreamingby Janelle Napurrurla Wilson

Janelle Napurrurla Wilson was born in 1985 in Alice Springs Hospital, the closest hospital to Yuendumu, a remote Aboriginal community located 290 km north-west of Alice Springs in the NT of Australia. She attended the local school, graduating in 2000. When she finished school she worked in Reception at the Yuendumu Health Clinic. She now has casual work with the New Future Alliance (NFA), an organisation who is training local men to work on refurbishing the older houses in the community and assisting the tradesmen to build new homes. Local people are also employed to clean and cook. Janelle has an older sister living in Adelaide and an older brother living in Darwin. Janelle is married and has always lived in Yuendumu.

Janelle has been painting for Warlukurlangu Artists Aboriginal Corporation; an Aboriginal owned and governed Art Centre, since 2012. “When I was young I use to come around to the Art Centre with my Mum and Aunty and watch them paint and I use to paint too.” She paints her Mother’s Father’s (Grandfather) Jukurrpa (Dreaming), Janganpa Jukurrpa (Brush-tail Possum Dreaming ) and her Mother’s Jukurrpa, Karnta Jukurrpa (Women’s Dreaming). These stories relate directly to the land, its features and the plants and animals that inhabit it. They were passed down to her Grandfather by his father and his father’s father before him for millennia. Janelle uses traditional designs and icons with an unrestricted palette to develop a modern interpretation of her traditional culture.  Janelle uses traditional designs and icons with an unrestricted palette to develop a modern interpretation of her traditional culture.   When Janelle is not working or painting she likes to go hunting for honey ants on the weekends with her mother and family.

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