Jillian Giles Napanangka / Country (JG013)

Jillian Giles Napanangka was born in 1979 in Tjukurla, WA, a small community located on the Western Australia – Northern Territory border. She grew up in Docker River, NT, with her parents, three sisters and two brothers and attended senior school at Yirara College in Alice Springs.

Her mother, senior artist, Esther Giles Nampitjinpa, and Aunts Tjawina Porter Nampitjinpa and Nyurapayia Nampitjinpa (Mrs Bennett) passed down their traditional stories and painting techniques to Jillian.

Jillian currently resides in Alice Springs with her husband and two children.

Jillian paints stories associated with her Country of Tjukurla, with much focus on the Pangkupirri water holes and the Yumari rock hole sites (these sites are important for ceremonies and as reliable sources for water and food). These sites are depicted through the use of traditional iconography. Concentric circles are used to represent the waterholes and rockhole sites at this location and the sandhills that are found throughout the desert landscape are represented through the use of line work with dots, creating a geometric pattern that has a three dimensional effect.