The East Kimberley Jaru painter Janet Dreamer (1959-2021) was a unique image maker whose paintings will be on show in Artitja Fine Art Gallery’s upcoming exhibition in South Fremantle.
Known affectionately as “Dreamer”, Janet Dreamer grew up in the 1960s at her birthplace of Old Flora Valley in the east Kimberley near Halls Creek. She and her five siblings hunted, fished and travelled with their elders, learning the traditional ways. Later, she moved to Kirkimbie Station as a kitchen worker and had two children, then to Billiluna Station and eventually to Halls Creek.
Although Dreamer started painting at the age of 16 under her father's tutelage, it was several decades later - after she joined Yarliyil Arts in Halls Creek in 2013 - that she started painting in earnest and with her own vision. And what a vision it was.
In 2024, Yarliyil Arts appointed the Mornington Peninsula-based Victorian gallery Everywhen Art to represent Mrs Dreamer's estate and to create a national exhibition programme of Mrs Dreamer's work in partnership with Yarliyil Arts.
The first of these exhibitions, The Paradisical World of Janet Dreamer was held in February 2025 at Everywhen Art in Shoreham, Victoria, and this the second My Country Stays in My Dreams will be held by Artitja Fine Art Gallery in South Fremantle.
Artitja Director Anna Kanaris says the gallery was delighted to be chosen to exhibit this special body of work in Perth. “It’s quite a responsibility to show the work of such a unique artist and to know that a portion of sales will go to the artist’s estate”.
