Janet is a talented linocut and screen print designer. She regards textile design as an opportunity to work with colour and a new method to express her djang (ancestral creator stories).

As well as her artistic work with Bábbarra Women’s Centre, she works for the Maningrida Night Patrol, a community safety service.

Janet’s ancestor spirits are Mandjurlukkun (Wild black berries), and Dadbe (King brown snake).

ARTWORK: Kunkurra, 2015

This work depicts the kunkurra, the spiralling wind associated with several sites in the Kardbam clan.

The artwork has two stories. First, it shows the kinds of mini-cyclones common during the wet season in Arnhem Land. Secondly, Kunkurra relates specifically to a site called Bilwoyinj, near Mankorlod, on Janet’s husband’s clan estate. At this site, two of the most important Kuninjku creation beings, a father and son known as nakorrkko, are believed to have hunted and eaten a goanna. They left some of the goanna fat behind at the site, which turned into the rock that still stands there today.