Desert Yamby Jeannie Mills Pwerl

Jeannie Mills Pwerl was born on 15 May 1965 and is a Alywarr woman from the Utopia region in Central Australia. Jeannie is the daughter of well know Utopian artist Dolly Mills Petyarre and the niece of acclaimed artist and traditional elder Greeny Purvis Petyarre (who sadly passed away in 2010). Jeannie comes from a popular and talent family including Emily Kame Kngwarreye (also passed away) who is considered by many to be one of the world’s best abstract contemporary artist.

Jeannie is a shy and quiet lady initially but once you get to know her she is a genuinely lovely person. Her paintings, often titled, Anaty, or Bush Plum descend from her father’s country or Irrwelty in the Utopia region. The Bush Yam is a staple food source for Aboriginal people living in the Central desert region. Jeannie’s paintings represent the flowers and seeds of the Anaty to pay homage to the spirit of the Bush Yam and encourage further germination in seasons to come. Often the women from Utopia will honour the Bush Yam through Awelye or women’s business ceremonies.

In 2004, Jeannie created her unique style for the Anaty Dreaming for Mbantua Gallery in Alice Springs. From here in a relatively short period of time she has captivated buyers and collectors world-wide. In 2008 she was a finalist in Australia’s most prestigious art award, the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Award. Her paintings use microscopic dots and intricate details with subtle colours giving the painting a three dimensional appearance. Her colour schemes are often warm and rich in colour. Central Art is pleased to have a variety of sizes of her beautiful artworks from very affordable small pieces to larger scale paintings over 2 meters in length.

Jeannie is an established and well respected artist; she spends the majority of her time on her traditional homelands of Utopia, choosing to paint from there. She is also a Ngangker, or traditional healer within the community and was taught the ancient and important knowledge around bush medicine and healing. Her creative and unique style has launched her artistic career, not only has she received recognition by the Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory through the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Award but she has also participated in various exhibitions around Australia. The sky is the limit as they say and Central Art is excited about all that Jeannie can accomplish and look forward to working with her.

View more artworks by this artist