Indigenous Art of the Dreamtime

Janet Nala Forrester

Born c. 1945, Janet Nala Forrester is a Luritja speaker who began painting in the late 1980s with the Jukurrpa (Dreaming) group, based in Alice Springs. She lives in Alice Springs but from time to time stays in Ernabella.

26. Sugarbag Honey Ant 1999, 132 x 89cm

Janet Paints the dreamings from Ernabella and Mayyvale, which were told to her by her grandparents. She often travels to the dreaming sites of her family to paint and had developed a flowing, linear style which has proved popular with patrons nationally and internationally. Janet’s paintings can be quite literal and do not depend on the extensive desert symbolism adopted by so many of her contemporaries. Her works have been selected for numerous group exhibitions throughout Australia including a touring exhibition with the Australian National Gallery.

Janet’s work was included in a major exhibition of the Jukurrpa artists at the Araluen Arts Centre in 1989 and was also featured in an exhibition at the Masterpiece Fine Art Gallery Hobart. In 1992 her work featured in several subsequent shows (including Desert Dreamings, Grand Hyatt, and Jakarta). However, in the past few years, she has mainly sold her work through galleries in Alice Springs. Her works have been acquired by the National Gallery of Australia, ACT; and collectors from New York, Philadelphia, England, Switzerland, Germany, Rome, and Indonesia. In 1998 her paintings were included in the ‘Out of Australia” exhibition at Lui Hai-Su National Art Museum, Shanghai China. Other collections include Jinta Desert Art Gallery Sydney, Aboriginal Art Galleries of Australia Melbourne, and Aboriginal Desert Art Gallery Alice Springs.

Janet’s brilliant use of colour creates a multi- dimensional effect from the radiating vines of the Bush Banana, to the countless stars of the Milky Way. Her work is highly sought after for this quality, both in Australia and overseas.

27. Bush Banana Dreaming 1999, 123 x 96cm

This painting depicts the radiating vines of the bush banana. The colouring is representative of an abundant food source.

28. Milky Way Dreaming 1998, 140 x 95

In Aboriginal life where people sleep under the stars with little shelter, the night sky is enthralling and dominating. Those people in the desert, are aware of nearly every star in the heavens and most of these stars have stories associated with their origins. All over Australia, it is believed that the stars and planets were once men, women and animals in the Creation Time.

The Milky Way with all its soft glowing stars and dark starless patches is a place with many landmarks for the Aboriginal people. The Milky Way is considered by the Aborigines as a visual representation of the microcosm within and tracking the inner self is knowing the pathways of the Milky Way. Those pathways remain esoteric and can only be released by the artist during ritual. The Milky Way is sacred as a residence for totemic beings. Here the artist has depicted the Milky Way as a whole constellation system.