Jeannie Mills Pwerle / Yam Dreaming

An Alyawarr artist raised among Utopia’s senior women and part of the transition from batik to canvas painting. Her wider practice draws from Country, women’s knowledge and a major Central Australian artistic lineage. She was a contributing artist to the landmark 1989 project Utopia Women’s artworks, the First Artworks on Canvas, A Summer Project, which marked the transition of many Utopia artists from batik to acrylic art-making on canvas.

Jeannie was born on 15 May 1965 and is an Alyawarr artist from the Utopia region of Central Australia, northeast of Alice Springs. Growing up among Utopia’s senior women artists, Jeannie was surrounded by the batik and art-making movements that brought international recognition to artists from the region. Her work was also included in Connection: Songlines from Australia’s First Peoples, the immersive exhibition presented at the National Museum of Australia in Canberra in 2022.