Janice Stanley / Pantu (Salt Lake) (19806)

Janice Stanley is an exciting contemporary Aboriginal artist from Pukatja (Ernabella) in the APY Lands of South Australia. Born in Alice Springs in 1987, Janice is a Pitjantjatjara woman and a third generation artist from the celebrated Stanley family, one of the most respected artistic families working in the APY Lands today.

Her grandmother was renowned founding Ernabella artist and traditional healer Tjariya Stanley, while her aunts Alison Milyika Carroll and Renita Stanley are both highly regarded senior artists. Growing up surrounded by strong female artists, Janice developed a deep connection to culture, Country and storytelling from an early age, often watching her grandmother and aunties paint while she was still at school.

Today Janice is recognised for her highly distinctive and contemporary painting style, which has become instantly recognisable within the Australian Aboriginal art movement. Her paintings are fluid, organic and expressive, featuring sweeping colour fields and flowing aerial forms inspired by the salt lake landscapes of her ancestral Country.

Janice paints Pantu (Salt Lake), located near Attila (Mt Connor) close to the Northern Territory border. This important site forms part of the ancient Seven Sisters Dreaming, or Kungkarangkalpa, one of the most significant creation stories in Aboriginal Australia. Through her paintings, Janice creates luminous aerial interpretations of these salt lakes, inspired by the experience of viewing the landscape from above.

Her works are celebrated for their extraordinary sense of movement, light and atmosphere. Using layered acrylic washes, intricate line work and vibrant colour palettes, Janice captures the shifting textures and reflections of the desert landscape in a way that feels both contemporary and deeply connected to Country.

Despite being an early career artist, Janice has already gained significant national and international recognition. Her works are held in important collections including Australian Parliament House in Canberra, the Janet Holmes à Court Collection in Perth and the Australian Embassy in Zagreb, Croatia. She has exhibited extensively throughout Australia and internationally in the United States, Belgium, Germany and France.

Janice’s paintings continue to attract strong attention from collectors around the world, admired for both their cultural significance and their striking contemporary aesthetic. Through her unique visual language, she offers a powerful and modern interpretation of Country while continuing the rich artistic legacy of the Stanley family.

Selected Exhibitions
• 2026 At Home with Art: Women’s Show, Everywhen Artspace, Mornington Peninsula, VIC
• 2026 Ernabella Summer Show, Everywhen Artspace, Mornington Peninsula, VIC
• 2025 The Creation Circle: Aboriginal Art and Time, Art Contemporary, Seattle, WA, USA
• 2024 From Sand to Stars | Indigenous Australian Art, Art Contemporary, Seattle, WA, USA
• 2024 Minyma Ku Tjukurpa Ernabella, Everywhen Art, VIC
• 2024 Colours of Country, Everywhen Art, Whistlewood, VIC
• 2024 Pattern and Palette, Everywhen Art at Salt Contemporary, Queenscliff, VIC
• 2024 Tribute to Our Elders, Aboriginal Signature, Brussels, Belgium
• 2024 From the Sand, Artitja Fine Art, Fremantle, WA
• 2024 H O M E, Everywhen Art at Whistlewood, Mornington Peninsula, VIC
• 2023 This Land is Me: Australian Aboriginal Art, Art Contemporary, Seattle, WA, USA
• 2023 Seattle Art Fair: Art Contemporary, Seattle, WA, USA
• 2023 NextGen Ernabella, Everywhen Artspace at Sydney Contemporary, CarriageWorks, Sydney
• 2023 Caress the Earth II: Manta Ngura Atuntju Kanyini II, Aboriginal Signature, Brussels, Belgium
• 2023 The Summer Collector’s Show: Grand Designs, Everywhen Artspace, Mornington Peninsula, VIC
• 2023 Ernabella Arts – 20 Years of Creating Ceramics, Jam Factory Craft and Design Centre, Adelaide, SA
• 2023 Piryakatu – Springtime, Everywhen Artspace, Mornington Peninsula, VIC
• 2023 Kungkarangkalpa: Seven Sisters, Michael Reid, Berlin, Germany
• 2022 Desert Colour, Talapi Gallery, Alice Springs, NT
• 2022 After the Rain, Yaama Ganu Gallery, Moree, NSW
• 2022 Desert Colours from Ernabella, Artitja Fine Arts, Fremantle, WA
• 2022 Stories from Ernabella, Everywhen Artspace, Mornington Peninsula, VIC
• 2022 Manta Tjula – Soft Earth, Short St Gallery, Broome, WA
• 2021 Renewal, Art Contemporary, Seattle, WA, USA
• 2021 Caress the Earth, Aboriginal Signature, Brussels, Belgium
• 2021 Desert Mob 30, Araleun Arts Centre, Alice Springs, NT
• 2021 Spring Salon, Artitja Fine Art, York, WA
• 2021 Painting Now, IDAIA, Le Havre, France
• 2021 Ernabella Arts Group Exhibition, Outstation, Darwin, NT
• 2021 Ananyi Nyurakutu- Going Home, Artitja Fine Art Gallery, Fremantle, WA
• 2021 Flying Colours, Talapi Gallery, Alice Springs, NT
• 2020 Tarnarthi Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art: Open Hands, Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide, SA
• 2020 Our Stories Going West, Short Street Gallery, Broome, WA
• 2020 Ernabella Arts: About place, Artitja Fine Art, Fremantle, WA
• 2020 Our Stories Going East, Aboriginal Contemporary, Sydney, NSW
• 2020 I know my Country, Artitja Gallery, Fremantle, WA
• 2020 Flying Colours, Talapi Gallery, Alice Springs, NT
• 2020 From our place to your place, Aboriginal Signature, Brussels, Belgium
• 2020 Summer Salon, Artitja Gallery, Fremantle, WA
• 2019 Desert Mob 2019, Araluen Art Centre, Alice Springs, NT
• 2019 Desert Colour featuring Ernabella ceramics, Talapi Gallery, Alice Springs, NT
• 2019 An Idea Needing to be Made: Contemporary Ceramics, Heide Museum of Modern Art, Bulleen, VIC
• 2018 Hold our connection to country strong for malatja-malatja (future generations), Aboriginal Signature, Brussels, Belgium
• 2017 Spirited – Kurunitja, Short Street Gallery, Broome, WA
• 2017 Our Country in Clay, Nomad Art, Darwin, NT
• 2017 Inuntjii – Regeneration, Aboriginal Signature – Estrangin Gallery, Brussels, Belgium
• 2016 Ernabella women: strong work, together, Sabbia Gallery, Paddington, NSW
• 2016 The Blooming Desert, Talapi Gallery, Alice Springs, NT
• 2016 Rising Stars 2016: New Directions, Outstation Gallery, Darwin, NT

Selected Collections
• Australian Embassy in Zagreb
• Janet Holmes A Court Collection
• Parliament House Collection

This painting depicts Pantu (Salt Lake), an important site near Attila (Mt Connor) in the APY Lands of Central Australia. The salt lakes are connected to the ancient Seven Sisters Dreaming, or Kungkarangkalpa, a significant creation story shared across many Aboriginal language groups throughout the desert regions of Australia.

According to the story, the Seven Sisters travelled across the land creating sacred sites, landforms and water sources as they journeyed through Country. The salt lakes at Pantu are among the important places formed during their travels and remain deeply significant within Anangu culture today.

Janice Stanley paints these lakes from an aerial perspective, inspired by seeing the landscape from above while flying over Country. Her flowing compositions capture the shimmering surfaces, shifting light and organic patterns created across the salt flats after rain. The soft layered forms and delicate line work evoke the movement of water, mineral deposits and the constantly changing textures of the desert landscape.

Rather than painting a literal representation of the landscape, Janice creates an expressive interpretation of Country that reflects both memory and feeling. Her use of vibrant colour, fluid shapes and luminous surfaces gives the work a contemporary energy while remaining strongly connected to traditional stories and cultural knowledge.

Through Pantu, Janice Stanley celebrates the beauty, spirituality and enduring presence of Country, inviting viewers to experience the landscape through the artist’s deeply personal connection to place.