KIRIWIRRI, 2006
JAN BILLYCAN
synthetic polymer paint on canvas
80.0 x 60.0 cm
inscribed verso: artist's name and Short Street Gallery cat. #23563
Short Street Gallery, Broome, acquired 2007
The K.D.H. Ainsworth Collection, Queensland
This work is accompanied by a copy of a certificate of authenticity from Short Street Gallery.
Kiriwirri jila lies within the Percival Lakes or Warla country, a chain of salt lakes that runs for hundreds of kilometres across the desert intersecting the Canning stock route at Well 39. It is home to many language groups including Yulparija, Wangkajunga, Manyjilyjarra, Nyangumarta, Mangala and Juwaliny speakers.
Jan grew up around the Percival Lakes. She has strong ties to Kiriwirri, the place where she was born and the Country of her father's clan. In the 1960s she was picked up by extended family and taken to Bidyadanga, where she lives today. Jan is a respected maparn (medicine woman) and began painting in 2003. She returned to her Country for the first time in 2006.