Mignonette Jamin

“Muthanoongamaya is my country…” Mignonette was born circa 1932 at Muthanoongamaya – Majalindy Valley on Majalindy Creek a tributary of the Fitzmaurice River near Palumpa in the Northern Territory. As a child and young woman she walked all over the country from Bullo River to Kununurra. She lived at Legune Station and went to school at Port Keats. She came to Kununurra when she was about 10 years old. Mignonette was a respected law woman.

Mignonette painted her traditional country – the rivers and billabongs, coastal areas, the hills, rocky ridges, roads and other land marks as well as sites significant to women’s business which belonged to her dreaming for country at Majalindy. She also painted country around Kununurra and Wyndham associated with her husband’s country – Carlton Hill Station area. Her paintings attracted much attention with their powerfull balanced compositions, a vibrant immediacy and an expansive palette despite working strictly with ochre pigments. She sadly passed away in 2010.