Shirley Purdie

Shirley Purdie was born in 1947 in Gilban, Western Australia. A senior Gija artist based at the Warmun Art Centre in the East Kimberley region of Western Australia. Following in the footsteps of highly regarded Kimberley artists, including her late mother, Madigan Thomas, Uncle Jack Britten, as well as Rover Thomas and Queenie McKenzie, Purdie began painting her Country in the early 1990’s and is known for her richly textured natural earth pigments on canvas. Using ochres collected on her own Country, Purdie’s work draws on traditional Gija stories and Ngarranggarni (Dreaming) passed down to her as well as depicting sites and narratives associated with her ancestral Country.