Janet Koongotema
Janet Koongotema is 83 years of age and a highly respected Wik-Mungkan elder from the Winchanam Clan. She is very skillful with her hands having spent a lifetime using them to collect and prepare natural fibres to create dilly bags and pandanus fruit bowls. Her string works are recognised across the country for their elegant and colourful forms.
Since 2010, Janet has adapted her weaving skills across to painting. Her use of traditional knowledge is apparent in all of her works. She uses dramatic colour compositions to depict her tribal Country on the Big Archer River near Aurukun. A recurring theme in her paintings is the Dilly Bag Story of which, among others, she is Boss for.
Janet has featured strong collections of work at Martin Brown Contemporary in Sydney, the Cairns Indigenous Art Fair, Darwin Aboriginal Art Fair and Tarnanthi in South Australia.
EXHIBITIONS:
(Solo )
2011 Wanchinth Ma’ Min, Andrew Baker Art Dealer, Brisbane, QLD
(Group)
2022 Yuk Wuy Min Ngantamp, The Brunswick Street Gallery, Vic
Cairns Indigenous Art Fair, Qld
2021 Cairns Indigenous Art Fair, Qld
2020 Ach Min, Coral Street Art Space, Victor Harbor, SA
2019 Painted Stories: Linking Country, Art and Culture for Language
Revival, Tarnanthi, Hahndorf Academy, SA
2018 The Heysen Prize for Landscape, Hahndorf Academy, SA
2013 Cairns Indigenous Art Fair, Qld
2012 The Long Tide, Contemporary Ghostnet Art, Artisan, Fortitude
Valley, QLD
The MHS (The Mental Health Conference), Centre for Rural and
Remote Mental Health Queensland, Cairns Conference Centre, QLD
Cairns Indigenous Art Fair, QLD
2011 Aurukun Artists, Japingka Gallery, Fremantle, WA
Aawach Pi’an (Big House), Alcaston Gallery – Melbourne, VIC
Cairns Indigenous Art Fair, QLD
2010 Cairns Indigenous Art Fair, QLD
Aurukun Artist Group Exhibition, Canopy, Cairns, QLD
Work in Progress, Artworks from Creative Recovery, CRRMH, The
Tanks, Cairns, QLD
