The late Kimberley Jaru painter Janet Dreamer (1959-2021) known affectionately only as "Dreamer" was a unique artist.

Growing up at her birthplace of Old Flora Valley Station east of Halls Creek in the 1960s, Dreamer and her five siblings hunted, fished and travelled with their elders, learning of traditional life. 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 only much later, after she joined Yarliyil Art Centre at Halls Creek in 2013, that she started painting in earnest and with her own vision. And what a vision it was.

Her vibrantly coloured canvases with their free imagery and sizzling hues bring to life an extraordinary range of flora, wildlife and water life of Old Flora Valley Station, the lush oasis of nearby Palm Springs and that which she observed on the many journeys she called 'walkabout' over vast tracks of Jaru country from Derby to Halls Creek.

"My country", she said, "stays in my dreams. I dream about my home, and I don't forget about my country." Dreamer was a finalist in Perth's prestigious John Stringer Prize 2022 (in a posthumous tribute) and three works were acquired by the Art Gallery of Western Australia.