My Country Stays in My Dreams - JANET DREAMER

PRESENTED BY ARTITJA FINE ART GALLERY IN PARTNERSHIP WITH EVERYWHEN ART & YARLIYIL ART CENTRE
Born at old Flora Valley Station the late Kimberley Jaru painter, Janet Dreamer (1959-2021) lived a semi traditional life. She started painting at 16 under her father’s tutelage, but it was only after joining Yarliyil Art Centre at Halls Creek in 2013, that she started painting with her own vision. And what a vision it was. Dreamer's 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 (Wungu), the lush oasis of nearby Palm Springs (Lugangarna) and the abundance of plants and wildlife she observed on the many journeys she called 'walkabout' over vast tracks of her people's country from Derby to Halls Creek. In her depictions of now rare flora, fauna, references to ancestral creation figures and ceremonial practices, her works are also of profound cultural significance. 

"My country", she said, "stays in my dreams. I dream about my home, and I don't forget about my country." 

Long term art Kimberley art centre manager Kevin Kelly, while manager of Yarliyil Arts worked with Dreamer from 2017 to 2021. He described her vibrant, energetic work as “compelling and utterly original - unlike any other artist I'd ever seen".  Recognising their quality and individuality, Yarliyil Arts started putting a selection aside for gallery exhibitions. In 2020 however, the advent of Covid derailed most of the planned exhibitions. Sadly, Mrs Dreamer's health also declined, and she passed away in hospital in Darwin in 2021, leaving a substantial body of work. 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. 

 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 with the aim of  bringing Mrs Dreamer's work to wide attention - in so doing, according  this remarkable artist the recognition she and her work so richly deserve. The first of these exhibitions The Paradisical World of Janet Dreamer was held in February 2025 at Everywhen Art in Shoreham, Victoria,  

Now, the second exhibition My Country Stays in My Dreams  is presented by Artitja Fine Art Gallery at their exhibiting space, Earlywork, 330 South Terrace, South Fremantle, WA..

 
Exhibition dates: August 26-September 7

Venue: EARLYWORK, 330 South Tce, South Fremantle, WA 6162. Open daily 10-4

 Official opening: Friday 29 August 2025 | 6-8pm to be opened by Kevin Kelly, long term Kimberley art centre manager. 

Exhibition talk: Saturday 30 August 2025 | 2-3pm. 
Kevin Kelly and Everywhen Art director Susan McCulloch OAM in conversation with Artitja Fine Art Gallery diector Anna Kanaris. RSVP: janetdreamer.eventbrite.com.au  

 View exhibition catalogue

View online as below and  www.artitja.com.au 

Enquiries to Anna Kanaris | 0418 900 954  info@artitja.com.au