Jorna Newberry was a Pitjantjatjara woman and artist who was born around 1959 at Angus Downs, the 320,500-hectare pastoral lease, 300 kilometres south-west of Alice Springs, which is now an Indigenous Protected Area. Sadly she died suddenly in Alice Springs last month. She also lived a more traditional Indigenous life in Warakuna, a desert community on the NT/WA border.

For most of her life, it was her association with the late, great artist, Tommy Yannima Watson, who was not Jorna’s uncle but still “close family” because he had helped to raise her, that gave her prominence in the Aboriginal art world. Latterly he was also an influence on her own painting. For Watson had undoubtedly taught her to paint in a multi-layered abstract way by example, his way of maintaining the secrecy of important culture matters, so important for him.

Most famously, she accompanied the old man who spoke no English when he decided to leave his Wingellina/Irrunytju community and try to live as an independent artist. Unfortunately, neither of them were capable of dealing with rapacious dealers in Alice Springs, and it took the daring Melbourne-based dealer John Ioannou and a court case to rescue Watson (and Jorna). Ioannou brought both of them to Darwin to give evidence in a libel action in which gallerists were complaining that articles (by me) describing their dealings with Watson were examples of carpet-bagging.

The case was never resolved despite a spectacular performance by Newberry which totally flummoxed the complainants’ QC. But a negotiated settlement saw an apology to the dealers and a large number of Tommy’s paintings returned to him for sale. The complainants had contracted to pay him just 10% of retail, less their costs. Under Ioannou, Tommy developed his fabulous blood red signature style which flourished in paintings of infinite variety until his death in 2017. Sadly, though, his agency in staying outside the community art centre system saw his work blackballed by institutions and auction houses. He also fell out with Ioannou, returning to live with Newberry in Alice Springs.

Jorna initially started to paint in the early 2000’s, works referring to her country around Irrunytju in the Western Desert. It was associated with traditional places of spiritual knowledge and ancestral stories embedded in the land. “Tommy has had a big influence on me. He teaches me to be respectful in the way I paint,” she has said. Some works had the feel of the master.

Many represent Ngintaka, the giant perentie lizard and creation ancestor of the Anangu Pitjantjatjara people.  The Ngintaka Songline is a major creation story revolving around food sources in the desert and the supply of grinding stones necessary to produce the finest flour. Today, perentie are tracked for long distances and hunted for food. And painted on huge pieces of desert bark, the Alice Springs dealer, Yanda Art is offering Ngintaka works for as much as $135,000.

Recently, Jorna made a change in style, employing a colour palette of whites, creams and neutrals on a black ground. These detailed paintings offered a more contemporary aesthetic. Themes in this work were Waru Tjukurrpa, the Fire Dreaming, which considers the use of fire for hunting and for land management on traditional Aboriginal lands, and the Walpa Tjukurpa, the Wind Dreaming. This is a story of Jorna’s mother’s country at Utantja, a large stretch of sacred ceremonial land that is hilly, and a large rock hole where people come from time to time to paint up, dance and do ceremony. It is country filled with kangaroos, camels, rock wallabies and birds.

“The wind ceremony forms winds… creates air to cool the lands…”, Jorna has explained, and the wind also helps in hunting, as being downwind from animals makes it easier to avoid their scenting the hunters. In painting this story Jorna suggests movement and depth, with repetitive circular patterning, and intricate dotting.  The very surface of these works suggest the movement of wind across the desert sands, creating eddies and ever changing surface patterns.

Sadly Jorna passed away suddenly on February 3rd, 2025.