Annette Nungala Peterson

“I paint out in the country where it’s busy. Mail plane, flying doctors, army, mining mob, you might see anyone. This is the outback.”

Annette Nungala Peterson combines naive imagery with heavy dotwork often arranged in patchwork pattern to depict the vast landscape of Ilytwelepenty (the Davenport Ranges). Abundant bush flowers and the ubiquitous white eucalypts of the region scatter Annette’s landscape. Planes, helicopters, trucks and cars can often be found weaving their way across her canvases. 

Keenly aware of the comings and goings of station workers, maintenance crews and health professionals, Annette’s work is influenced by daily life in community and contain an element of fantasy; heavy dotting and vivid patchwork colours exaggerate the texture of the pebbled ‘rock country’ that surrounds Wutunugurra while a distorted perspective renders bush flowers the size of trees making for dream-like landscapes. 

Annette was born at Neutral Junction Station in 1968, close to Barrow Creek on the Stuart Highway between Alice Springs and Tennant Creek. She speaks Alyawarr and Kaytetye languages as well as English, she has spent much of her life working at the Epenarra School where she dedicated her time to teaching language and culture to young ones. Today she is employed as an arts worker with Barkly Regional Arts, managing the day-to-day of the Epenarra art centre.

Annette started painting as a young girl and has re-invigorated her practice in recent years, painting alongside the Epenarra Artists of Wutunugurra where she lives. Her subject matter varies between bush foods and the landscapes around Neutral Junction, which she paints with a rich and vibrant palette in her signature patchwork style.