June Peters / Purnululu (Bungle Bungles – Series) (19368)

June was born on Texas Downs Station (Ngarrgaroon) in 1962. She lost both her mother and father at a very young age however the late Madigan Thomas (Senior ochre artist and Law Woman) and her husband Sandy Thomas, a Traditional Elder, brought her up and treated her like a daughter.

June lives at Mandangala Community (Glen Hill Station), has eight children and many grandchildren and visits her relatives at Warmun frequently.

She was taught painting from an early age by the best of our famous first generation ochre artists, including Jack Britten, Madigan Thomas and Lena Nyadbi. These Elders devoted their lives to teaching youngsters culture, Traditional Dreamtime stories and ochre painting technique.

June is the niece of our most famous ochre artist, Rover Thomas. June’s mother was one of five sisters (Rita being Rover’s wife) and every one of these women, all from Texas Downs Station, have produced highly talented artists. June’s eldest daughter Deanne is following in her mother’s footsteps and is an accomplished artist.

June has an extended family, and through her mother, father, aunties and uncles, is able to paint the huge expanse of Kitja land, including Texas Downs, Purnululu and Doon Doon. This gives the artist a wonderful content for her works, and June is fastidious about the Kitja Dreaming Stories represented in her paintings. She travels extensively in her country, and paints with precision and authenticity.

June paints both in the typical Warmun style (thick bulked ochre), as well as fine, detailed works in minimal palette and on occasion, wonderful works using the acrylic medium. June’s work has been quickly noticed and purchased by astute collectors and included in exhibitions at Australian galleries such as Japingka Gallery in Perth and Harrison Galleries and Gallery Tjukurrpa in Sydney plus international galleries in France, The Netherlands and USA.

June has a promising future and her paintings now hang with the best of her famous relatives.

Purnululu, widely known as the Bungle Bungles, is one of the most breathtaking and culturally rich landscapes in the East Kimberley. This World Heritage-listed area is famous for its unique beehive-shaped domes, formed over 350 million years ago and banded with striking layers of orange and black sandstone.

For the artists who paint this Country, Purnululu holds deep cultural and personal meaning. Their connection to this land stretches back through time beyond measure, and continues today through stories, song, and painting.

The artworks capture Purnululu in all its changing moods – from soft pinks at sunrise to the deep reds of the hot season, golden yellows and dusty browns in the dry, blackened rock during storm time, and lush greens after the first rains. The colours shift constantly with the weather, light, and season.

As the artists say, “it’s just like magic – you can paint the same place at a different time of the day or year, and it never looks the same.”

Each painting is not just a depiction of the landscape, but a reflection of the artists’ enduring relationship with this remarkable place.