DURRMU ARTISTS
Anastasia Naiya Wilson
Anastasia Naiya Wilson, a Ngan’gikurunggurr woman was born in 1974. She is Regina Pilawuk Wilson’s middle daughter and an emerging artist at Durrmu Arts. She currently works at the women's safe house in Peppimenarti, which she has been working at since 2009.
Anastasia has inherited her mother’s dingo dreaming and openly paints this subject using dark ochres and black and white. More recently, Anastasia has been developing her weaving designs on canvas, as a result of the 2009 Basil Hall Editions workshop where she produced two etchings and one collagraph – all based on traditional wupun (coil basket) and warrgardi (dilly bag) designs.
Carol Jimmy
Born in Darwin 1972, Carol grew up and lived on her Mothers country at Kalkarindji. It wasn't until 2009, after she met her husband Leon Pungili, that she moved to Peppimenarti.
Carol speaks Gurindji from her mothers side and Mudburra from her fathers side. She has 10 siblings (2 now deceased), making their family the largest in Kalkarindji. She has one daughter, and two grandchildren. Her dreaming from her mothers side is ngupa (rain), and from her father the christmas bird.
During her time at Kalkirindji Carol worked at the creche and Primary School teaching the year 4 & 5 classes.
Both of her parents Biddy & Jimmy Wavehill are well regarded artists working at Karungkarni Art Centre.
Grace Dodson
Born in 1980 Grace is the prefect balance of her bold Father, Senator Pat Dodson and her gentle Mother, Annunciata Dartinga. Having married Regina Wilsons son Henry, she has now been living in Peppimenarti for many years, and has two sons. Working full time as a nurse at Peppimenarti Clinic, Grace uses painting as a way to relax, and clear her mind after her busy days at work.
Her calmness can be seen in her style of painting, using a soft colour palette and stories from her Mothers country at Fossil Head.
Leon Pungily
Born in 1970, Leon has two daughters and has lived in Peppimenarti his whole life. He is the son of Patsy Marfurra, who was an established senior artist at Durrmu Arts.
His work is distinctive through his use of traditional ochre colouring. Being one of only a few male artists at Durrmu Arts, he has an important job painting the traditional male designs associated with cultural articles and body designs.
Patsy Marfurra (deceased)
Patsy Marfurra was born in 1942 at Daly River Mission, Northern Territory, she passed away in January 2014 and belongs to the Ngen’giwumirri language group. In the late 1960s Marfurra moved her family, including six children, to Peppimenarti. She began painting in 2001, and was first influenced by her grandmother and sisters in Peppimenarti.
Patsy makes large painted canvases with bold stripes and doed markings that reflect ceremonial body painng and three-dimensional woven forms. She is also an accomplished dilly bag weaver.
In 2008, Patsy was selected as a finalist, one of nine, in the Xstrata Coal Emerging Indigenous Art Award, Gallery of Modern Art, Queensland Art Gallery.
Annunciata THIN HINI Dartinga
Annunciata was born in Wadeye in 1953. She spent her schooling years at Wadeye, and then after spending time at the Wadeye Mission, she moved back onto her country at Fossil Head with her family, then in 2017 moved to Peppimenarti.
Annunciata has one daughter, Grace, who she currently lives with in Peppimenarti with her two grandchildren. Her totem is marluk (didgeridoo) and freshwater crocodile. She speaks 2 languages; English and Nurnninpata. She began painting in 2018, and in 2019 Regina Wilson taught her how to weave string bags and baskets.
Dakota Wilson
Dakota, or more commonly known as Koda, is an up and coming artist with Durrmu Arts. Koda under the guidance of her Grandmother, Regina Wilson, is passionate and hardworking with a distinctive style.
Regina Pilawuk Wilson
Born 1948 in the Daly River region, Northern Territory, Australia.
Lives and works in Peppimenarti, Northern Territory, Australia.
Regina Pilawuk Wilson is a Ngan’gikurrungurr woman. Her work is exhibited widely, and is housed in public and private collections both in Australia and internationally. She is regarded as one of Australia’s leading Indigenous artists, and is the founder of the Peppimenarti community - the permanent settlement for the Ngan’gikurrungurr people in the Daly River Region since 1973.
The location of Peppimenarti is an important dreaming site for the Ngangikurrungurr language group and informs Regina’s art and weaving practices - skills she inherited from her grandmother and mother.
Margaret Kundu
Margaret Kundu is a master painter and fisherwoman, turtle catching is her specialty. She was raised on the Catholic Mission in Daly River. She came to Peppimenarti in the 70s. She has 10 children and jokes that she doesn't know how many grandkids she has. Margaret is a lifelong friend of Kathleen and Regina. She is a strong voice in Peppimenarti and commands utmost respect from younger community members.
Pauline Longmirr
Born in 1957, Pauline has lived her whole life in the Daly River region. She raised her 4 children in Nauiyu (Daly River) Community.
First cousin to Regina Pilawuk Wilson, Pauline recalls weaving with Regina when she was living in Peppimenarti in the mid 70's.
Her dreaming is dingo and fog.
Annunciata Nunuk Wilson
Annunciata Nunuk Wilson, a Ngan’gikurunggurr woman born c. 1970, is the eldest daughter of Regina Pilawuk Wilson, and an emerging artist at Durrmu Arts.
Annunciata paints durrmu (body painting dot) designs in the traditional colours of weaving dyes: deep purples, ochres, black and red.
More recently, Annunciata has developed her painting practice and has started experimenting with sun mat, basket stitch and merrepen leaf designs.
She has completed two printmaking workshops with master printer Basil Hall, in 2007 and 2009, resulting in etching and collagraphs.
One of her sun mat weaving paintings is held in the Colin and Elizabeth Laverty collection.
Dianne Hodgson (deceased)
Dianne Hodgson was born on the 1st January 1947 in Mataranka, near Katherine. Her mother’s country is by Mataranka and her father’s country is just outside Peppimenarti, up on the Moyle River.
Dianne moved from Mataranka to Peppimenar when she was an adult, where she raised her family.
Dianne started painting in 2003.
Although she became known for her weaving and dot body painting designs, Dianne predominantly paints her mother and father’s country. From her mother’s country she paints a big cave that she remembers, and from her father’s country she depicts the trees by the Moyle River.
Dianne’s work has been exhibited in Darwin and Sydney and she was selected as a finalist in the 2013 Togart Art Awards.
Sadly, in 2015 Dianne passed away.
Kathleen Korda
Kathleen Korda was born and educated at the Daly River mission. In the 1960s, when she was a teenager, she moved out to Peppimenarti.
There her mother and grandmother taught her how to weave baskets, string bags and fish-nets. Kathleen lives at Peppimenarti with her 5 daughters and 12 grandchildren. Kathleen is Regina Wilson’s first cousin; her father was Regina’s mother’s brother.
She is establishing herself as a leading weaver at Durrmu Arts - receiving a Highly Commended for her traditional fish net in the Togart Art Awards (2013).
Marie Faraday Jabinee (deceased)
Faraday was highly respected cultural woman of Peppimenarti, who is greatly missed. Her use of vibrant colours always reflected her outgoing and cheeky personality.
Rosina Tirak
Rosina Tirak, b. c. 1980, is a Ngan’gikurunggurr woman who lives at Peppimenarti with her young family.
Rosina started painting not long after Durrmu Arts establishment in 2001 and her work has been included in a number of group exhibitions around Australia and in Singapore.
Rosina’s work is highly distinctive; she depicts weaving designs using organic lines and ochre colours. She also paints Fi, the sand-palm twine used for weaving string bags and fish-nets.