Shortlisted for the 2021 CBCA Award for New Illustrator* *Shortlisted for the WA Premier's Book Awards: Premier's Prize for Writing for Children*

Age range 0 to 9 I am Shirley Purdie This is my story Ngayin-ga Birrmarriyan-nga Berrembi jarragbe ngaginybe. My mother shows me how to get bushtucker and she shows me how to paint. Now I'm a famous artist. My paintings are all over the world hanging in important places. Happy times. Told in English and Gija, this is the story of Shirley Purdie, famous Gija artist, as told through her paintings, as part of the Ngaalim-Ngalimboorro Ngagenybe exhibition created for the 2018 National Portrait Gallery exhibition So Fine: Contemporary women artists make Australian history. The exhibition will be rehung, in Gallery 1, to coincide with the launch of My Story, along with a series of cultural engagement activities based on My Story. This is the first book in the Kimberley Art Centre Series. The series focuses on developing the skills of Kimberley Aboriginal artists in children's picture book storytelling and illustration.

Teacher download notes

Told in English and Gija, this is Shirley Purdie's life story, depicted alongside her stunning paintings. In My Story, Ngaginybe Jarragbe, Shirley shares vignettes of her life growing up on Mabel Downs station, and her Gija Culture, Country and Dreaming. She explains her Dreaming is Echidna Dreaming and she teaches us about bush fruit and hunting. She also shares the story of her working life, as a maid in the homestead on Mabel Downs station, and later in life as an artist, and how her mum taught her how to paint her Country.

Shirley Purdie is a famous Australian artist who lives in Warmun community, in the remote Kimberley region of Western Australia. This is her first children’s picture book. When asked about what it means to share her story with children, Shirley said “good to put it in painting, your Country, so kids can know and understand. When the old people die, young people can read the stories from the paintings. They can learn from the paintings and maybe they want to start painting too.”

This is the first book in the Kimberley Art Centre Series. The series focuses on developing the skills of Kimberley Aboriginal artists in children’s picture book storytelling and illustration. Shirley is well-known for her painting richly textured ochre and charcoal. See more of her artwork through the Warmun Art Centre.

Shirley Purdie

Shirley Purdie has been painting for more than twenty years and is an artist of increasing significance and seniority. Her cultural knowledge and artistic skill complement each other to produce a practice that holds great strength. Shirley is also a prominent leader in Warmun community and an incisive cross-cultural communicator.
Inspired by more senior Warmun artists including her late mother, the great Madigan Thomas, as well as Rover Thomas and Queenie McKenzie. Much of her work explores spirituality and the relationship between Gija conceptions of Ngarranggarni (Dreaming) and Catholicism. In 2007 Shirley was awarded the Blake Prize for Religious Art for her major work Stations of the Cross. Shirley Purdie is represented by Warmun Art Centre and her artwork can viewed and purchased via their website.