Ju Ju Wilson (born in 1960 at Mantinea Flats, northern part of

Western Australia Western Australia (WA) is the westernmost state of Australia. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east, and South Australia to the south-east. Western Aust ...

) is an Aboriginal artist and part of the

contemporary Indigenous Australian art Contemporary Indigenous Australian art is the modern art work produced by Indigenous Australians, that is, Aboriginal Australians and Torres Strait Islander people. It is generally regarded as beginning in 1971 with a painting movement that star ...

movement.

Career

Wilson is a painter, printmaker, tour guide, cultural advisor, and an expert in

bush tucker Bush tucker, also called bush food, is any food native to Australia and historically eaten by Indigenous Australians and Torres Strait Islander peoples, but it can also describe any native flora, fauna, or fungi used for culinary or medicinal ...

wild edible foods and medicines, author of booklets (on these subjects),

didgeridoo The didgeridoo (;()), also spelt didjeridu, among other variants, is a wind instrument, played with vibrating lips to produce a continuous Drone (music), drone while using a special breathing technique called circular breathing. The didgerido ...

maker and player. She is an authority on

Aboriginal sacred site An Australian Aboriginal sacred site is a place deemed significant and meaningful by Aboriginal Australians based on their beliefs. It may include any feature in the landscape, and in coastal areas, these may lie underwater. The site's status i ...

s and

rock art In archaeology, rock arts are human-made markings placed on natural surfaces, typically vertical stone surfaces. A high proportion of surviving historic and prehistoric rock art is found in caves or partly enclosed rock shelters; this type al ...

. She has advocated for the preservation of Indigenous culture and heritage, and the necessity to preserve Australia's rock art. Burriwee and other Indigenous Australian's believe "the land and the art have spiritual values that represent environmental phenomena, beyond the comprehension of most." She has stated that the state government's aerial fire-bombing and ground burnings threaten "sacred traditions, rooted in Dreamtime, which resonate with current environmental concerns." Burriwee is concerned that many of the 8,742 specimens that are located in Western Australia, " Kununurra, along the Mitchell Plateau, across the Bungle Bungles to Faraway Bay'" have been damaged. As an elder she remembers visiting these sacred sites during her lifetime, however most of these examples can no longer been seen Wilson has written about the medicinal properties of the plant, ''Dolichandrone heterophyla''. She is frequently invited to make appearances on television shows to talk about her art and abilities, such as her 2008 appearance on ''

Ray Mears Goes Walkabout ''Ray Mears Goes Walkabout'' is a 2008 Reality television#Outdoor survival, survival television series hosted by Ray Mears, showing Mears in Australia. Synopsis Mears journeys through the wilderness of the Australian outback to learn about the ...

'' on

BBC Two BBC Two is a British free-to-air Public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom, public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's second flagship channel, and it covers a wide range of subject matte ...

Personal life

Mother of six, Wilson comes from the Miriwoong- Gajirrawoong group of the

Kimberley Kimberly or Kimberley may refer to: Places and historical events Australia Queensland * Kimberley, Queensland, a coastal locality in the Shire of Douglas South Australia * County of Kimberley, a cadastral unit in South Australia Ta ...

region and was educated at Beagle Bay. Four generations of her family are artists (her maternal grandmother, her mother and her daughter are also Aboriginal artists). Her Miriwoong name is ''Burriwee'' and she can speak five Aboriginal languages fluently.

Collections

Wilson's work is held in the permanent collection of the National Gallery of Australia, Canberra.

References

External links

Ju Ju Wilson's profile and art
Living people Australian Aboriginal artists People from the Kimberley (Western Australia) Australian women painters 21st-century Australian women artists 21st-century Australian artists Year of birth missing (living people) {{Australia-painter-stub