Loongkoonan

Who is Loongkoonan?

Loongkoonan is an Australian Aboriginal artist and elder from the Nyikina people of the central western Kimberley region in Western Australia. Loongkoonan was born at Mount Anderson near the Fitzroy River. Her parents worked on cattle stations, and as she grew up, Loongkoonan followed them, mustering sheep and cooking in stock camps. Later she rode horses and mustered cattle.

During the wet season, Loongkoonan would follow her people to their traditional lands, where they would undergo ceremony and collect bush foods, medicines and the prized 'limmiri'.

In 2005 Loongkoonan began painting through the arts workshop Manambarra Aboriginal Artists in Derby, Western Australia. Her shimmering depictions of bush tucker received immediate acclaim, being exhibited in every state and territory of Australia. Her work has been influential in inspiring a new generation of Nyikina artists, including Peggy Wassi.

In 2006 Loongkoonan was awarded first prize in the Redlands Art Award, and in 2007 she was awarded the Indigenous award at the Drawing Together Art Awards at the National Archives of Australia.

Her works are held in the collections of the National Gallery of Victoria, Berndt Museum of Anthropology at the University of Western Australia, Macquarie University and the Department of Indigenous Affairs in Canberra.