Jillian Nampijinpa Brown Australian, Warlpiri, b. 1975

Jillian Nampijinpa Brown was born in 1975 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 spent her childhood in Yuendumu, attending school at both Yuendumu and Yirara College, an Aboriginal boarding college in Alice Springs. For a long time, Jillian worked at the Yuendumu Child Care Centre, but she now paints full time and takes care of her children and her family’s children. Jillian has been painting with Warlukurlangu Artists Aboriginal Corporation since 1999, an Aboriginal owned and governed art centre located in Yuendumu. She paints her father’s Jukurrpa, Dreamings that relate to her land, its features and animals. These stories were passed down to her by father, who received them from his parents. Jillian uses an unlimited palette and traditional iconography, at the same time developing a contemporary individualistic style to depict her traditional Jukurrpa.