JUNE BIRD NANGALA - Women Celebrating Collecting Bush Plum

Born around 1955 in the Utopia lands of the Northern Territory, June comes from one of the region's most respected painting families. Her mother was Ada Bird Petyarre, one of the celebrated Petyarre sisters, and her father was Tommy Bird Mpetyane. Growing up surrounded by ceremony, ochre, and storytelling gave June a deep grounding in the culture she now paints.

In the late 1970s, June joined her mother and other Utopia women in the community's silk batik movement, work that would later be recognised as part of the prestigious Robert Holmes à Court Collection. When the "Summer Project" of 1988 introduced Utopia artists to acrylic on canvas, June and her extended family threw themselves into the new medium, and she's been painting on canvas ever since.

Her work centres on the Dreaming’s passed down through her family, particularly Ahakeye (Bush Plum) and Alpar (Rat-tail Plant), along with Awelye, women's ceremony and body paint designs. June is known for her fine, layered dot work and confident use of colour, building intricate fields that echo the patterns of body paint and country.

June's paintings have been exhibited both nationally and internationally, and her work is held in major collections. This painting was purchased directly from June and comes with a gallery Certificate of Authenticity.