Biography:
Janet Kalidjan Marawarr is a senior Kuninjku artist who has been creating textile based artwork at Babbarra Women’ s Centre for almost 40 years. Also a talented bark painter, Janet regards the making of artwork as an opportunity to work with colour and explore new media to express her djang (ancestral creation stories). Janet’s practice has taken her to Paris, LA, New Zealand and recently to India.
In 2019 Janet travelled to Paris to launch the touring exhibition, Jarracharra (Dry Season Wind) of which her work featured. In 2022 she travelled to LA where her work was exhibited with Aboriginal Screen-Printed Textiles from Australia’s Top End at Fowler Museum, UCLA. In January 2023 Marawarr was invited by the Australian Consul- General, Kolkata to explore the textile region of West Bengal as a guest of honour. She participated in a 10 day tour of the region sharing knowledge with other women’s groups including the Bridging Culture and Art Foundation Kantha studio in Tushkhali, Sundarbans; the Sadaf India Studio and the Navajeevan Co-operative Society in Jajpur, Odisha.
As well as her textile designs with Bábbarra Women’s Centre, Marawarr is an established bark painter with Maningrida Arts & Crafts and she works for the Maningrida Night Patrol, a community safety service.
‘I like lino, print[ing] my design and doing different way to print my lino, different colours and different way. I print lino Yawkyawk (young woman spirit) and Ngaldjorlhbo (Mother of Everything). This was an old lady and she create that language and the world before. I also print also Rolk (maggot), my mother design cause I’m the Djunkay (land manager) for her.’ Janet Marawarr 2020
'I saw them old people, doing only lino with bush dye, no screen printing. I was eighteen [years old]. I’m 60 now [...] 40 years. I was just watching my mum, she would weave baskets. And also I saw my grandfather painting, ma. One day I learned from my grandfather. I love printing and linocuts – printing my designs on textiles.' Janet Marawarr for Artlink 2023
