Janet Koongotema is a highly respected Wik-Mungkan elder and artist from the Winchanam Ceremonial Clan in Aurukun, Cape York Peninsula, whose vibrant paintings celebrate her ancestral homelands along the Archer River. Born in 1938, Koongotema spent a lifetime weaving dilly bags, fishing nets, and pandanus bowls, skills she learned from her aunty Topsy Warmane after her mother's early death. Since 2010, she has adapted this knowledge to painting, using dramatic colour compositions to depict significant sites, including Waank Aw (Woven Bag Story Place), where sparkling colours feature in the landscape and water. Her works prominently feature her totems—Kang-Kang (White-breasted Sea Eagle), Minh Themp (Burdekin Duck), Minh Koon (Black Duck), and Maiariki (waterlily)—painted so people can "see my Country." Koongotema won the Premier's Award for Excellence at Cairns Indigenous Art Fair (2023) and was a finalist in the Telstra National Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Art Award (2023, 2024) and the Wynne Prize (2023, 2024).
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Wik & Kugu Arts Centre Queensland
Works Available
Janet Koongotema
Waangk Aw | Dillybag Storyplace, 2025
Janet Koongotema
Aak Puul | Big Archer River, 2022
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