Biography

Reva Nungarrayi Dickson was born in 1966 in Yuendumu, a remote Aboriginal community located 290 km north-west of Alice Springs in NT of Australia. Reva attended the local school and left in Year 11. When she left school she worked for the Old People’s Program, a program that cares for the elderly by helping them when they are sick, and being with them when they are alone or when they are frightened during storms. Reva is now married and has a large family of her own to care for. She and her husband have 6 kids, and 7 grandchildren.

Reva has been painting for Warlukurlangu Artists Aboriginal Corporation; an Aboriginal owned and governed Art Centre, since 1993. She paints her Father’s Jukurrpa, in particular Ngalyipi Jukurrpa (Snake Vine Dreaming) and Mala Jukurrpa (Rufous Hare Wallaby Dreaming) from her father’s side. These dreamings relate directly to the land, its features and the plants and animals that inhabit it. They were passed down to her father by his father and his father’s father before him for millennia. Reva uses traditional designs and icons with an unrestricted palette to develop a modern interpretation of her traditional culture.

When Reva is not painting or looking after her grandchildren she likes to go hunting, especially for honey ants.