Born c.1950 at Alcoota. The artist is an Anmatyerre speaker and her country is Woolla Downs and Wood Green. She and her sister Wendy Purvis Mpetyane, who also paints, were both doing batik at Utopia before they took up painting on canvas, though in Julie’s case only since 1985, some eight years after the establishment of the Utopia group. Julie’s involvement dated from Cathy Barnes’ time as Art Coordinator for the Utopia batik makers. She and Wendy did their first paintings as part of CAAMA’s Summer Project 1988. Julie shares with her sister Kangaroo and Engedkina (potato pumpkin) Dreamings for this country. Their mother, Lorna Panunga, who began working in batik at the same time as Julie, has country at Bushy Park and sometimes paints her Katchera Dreaming. The family resides at Mulga Bore. All of Julie’s other sisters, Annie, Angela, Susan and Peggy, now paint occasionally and most have been involved with the Utopia batik enterprise from the beginning.
- Writers:
- Johnson, Vivien
- Date written:
- 1994
- Last updated:
- 2011
