Biography

Rosena Napaljarri Dickson was born in 1989, in Yuendumu, a remote Aboriginal community located 290 km from Alice Springs in the Northern Territory. Rosena is following the footsteps of her family, her mother, Jean Napanangka Brown , her father, Alan Japaljarri Dickson and her sister Samara Napljarri Dickson, who all paint for Warlukurlangu Artists Aboriginal Corporation, an Aboriginal owned and governed art centre located in Yuendumu.

Rosena attended the local school and finished her education at Yirara College, an Aboriginal boarding college in Alice Springs. When she completed her studies she returned to Yuendumu, and began painting with Warlukurlangu Artists, as well as working at the ‘Big Store’. She paints her parents’ Jukurrpa stories, Dreamings which relate directly to her land, its features and the plants and animals that inhabit it. These stories were passed down to her by her father and mother and their parents before them for millennia. Rosena uses an unrestricted palette to develop a modern interpretation of her traditional Jukurrpa.

When Rosena is not painting she likes to go hunting with her family for kangaroos, goannas and bush tucker such as Bush Tomato, Bush Potato and Bush Sultannas.