Jan Billycan

Birth Year c.1930-2015

Language Group Yulpartija
Region Bidyadanga

Jan Billycan (Djan Nanudie) grew up in Ilyarra country. There are jila (living water) in this country including Karrparti, Kawarr, Jurntiwa, and Wirrguj. Other places include Dodo, Kartal, Kiriwirri and Yukarri. When Jan was young she walked all around these places with her parents. Jan said "in living water there is a quiet snake. Sometimes he rises up, but we sing him down sometimes he can travel and bring rain. Ilyarra is my country Ilyarra, where I grew up. Lots of tali (sand dunes) and jila in this country. This big dog country."

Most of Jan’s works refer to jila. They are images of fecundity, with lush, highly coloured waterholes. A traditional healer, Billycan paints life, and her x-ray vision penetrates the forms that represent both the land and the human body, itself an extension of the land. All are one.

Jan was a respected maparn (medicine woman) and began painting in 2003. She returned to her Country for the first time in 2006.

Solo Exhibitions
2009 Jan Billycan Solo, William Mora Galleries, Melbourne, Vic
2008 Kirriwirri Jan Billycan, Short St Gallery, Broome, WA
2007 Jan Billycan, William Mora Galleries, Melbourne, VIC
2007 Kirriwirri, Short St Gallery @ Mary Place, Paddington, NSW

Group Exhibitions
2018 Indigenous Australia: Masterworks from the National Gallery of Modern Art, New Delhi, INDIA
2017 Indigenous Australia: Masterworks from the National Gallery of Australia, ME COLLECTORS ROOM, BERLIN, Germanay
2017 Aboriginal Art, Country of the Dreaming, Foundation Pierre Arnaud, Switzerland

2016 Parcours des Mondes, Estragin Fine Art, Paris, France
2014 Saltwater Soul Desert Heart, Short St Gallery Broome, WA
2014: Dreamings: Arte Aborigena Australiana incontra de Chirico (Aboriginal Australian art meets De Chirico), Museo Bilotti, Villa Borghese, Rome
2013 My Country, I still call Australia home, Gallery of Modern Art, Brisbane
2013 Womens Show, Vivien Anderson Gallery, Victoria 2012 Deserts and Rivers, Aboriginal Art from Western Australia's North, Form Gallery, Perth
2012 West of Well 33: Yaama Ganu Gallery, Sydney
2012 Luminescences: The Colour of Bidyadanga, Harvey Art Projects, Idaho, USA

2012 The Colin and Elizabeth Laverty Collection - a selection of Indigenous and non-Indigenous art exhibition, Geelong Gallery
2012 Jan Billycan Lydia Balbal, Arthouse Gallery, Sydney, NSW
2012 Round and Round in that Rockhole, Short St Gallery, Broome, W.A.
2012 Lightness and Gravity, Contemporary Artworks from the Collection Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane, Australia 2011 Australian Aboriginal Art: Painting from the Deserts, ININTI in collaboration with IDAIA, Madrid, Spain
2011 Shalom Gamarada Ngiyani Yana Art Fair 2011, Sydney, NSW
2011 Hedland Art Awards, Courthouse Gallery, Port Hedland, WA
2011 Western Australian Indigenous Art Award, Art Gallery of Western Australia, Perth, WA
2011 Summer Haze, JGM Galleries, London, UK
2011 Pearls, Paint Ilma, Aratong Galleries, Australian High Commission, Singapore 2011 Kirriwirri, Aboriginal and Pacific Art Gallery, Sydney, NSW
2011 Green, Outstation Gallery, Darwin, NT 2011 Bidyadanga Recent Paintings, Chapman Gallery, Canberra ACT
2010 Bidyadanga Artists Harvey Arts Projects, SunValley, Idaho, USA 2010 Hedland Art Awards, Port Hedland Courthouse Gallery, WA
2010 27th NATSIAA Awards, Darwin, NT
2010 Yiwarra Kuju, Canning Stock Route exhibition, National Museum of Australia, Canberra ACT
2010 Melbourne Art Fair, Royal Exhibition Building. - Short St Gallery William Mora Galleries present the Yulparija artists
2010 White, Short St Gallery, Broome WA
2009 Short on Size, Short St Gallery, Broome ,WA
2009 Shalom Gamarada Aboringinal Art Exhibtion, University of NSW, Sydney 2009 From Desert to Saltwater Country, Redot Gallery, Singapore
2008 Olympic IOC Expo Centre, Canning Stock Route Project, Beijing, China
2008 From the Desert to Saltwater, Booker-Lowe Gallery, Houston, Texas
2008 Bidyadanga Artists 2008, AP Bond Art Dealer, Adelaide, SA
2007 Yulparija Artists, New Works on Board, Short St Gallery, Broome WA
2007 Paintings from Remote Communities: Indigenous Australian Art from the Laverty Collection, Sydney Newcastle Art Gallery

2007 Triennal: Cultural Warriors, National Gallery of Australia, ACT
2007 Winpa, Raft Art Space, Darwin, NT
2007 24th NATSIAA Awards, Darwin, NT
2007 Desert Heart, Nevill Keating Gallery, London, England
2007 From the Bungalow I: Yulparija Artists, Johnston Gallery, Perth, WA
2006 Northern Journey, The Priory at Bingie, Bingie, NSW
2006 Jan Billycan Weaver Jack, William Mora Galleries, Melbourne, VIC
2006 23rd Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Awards
2005 The return of our land, Gallery Gondwana, Alice Aprings, NT
2005 Mummy + daughter, William Mora Galleries, Melbourne, VIC
2005 22nd Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Awards
2005 Bidyadanga 2005, Short St . Gallery, Broome, WA 2004 Desert Ocean, Short st. Gallery @ Kidogo Gallery, Fremantle
2004 Divas of the Desert, Gallery Gondwana, Alice Springs
2004 Bidyadanga Artists, William Mora Gallery, Melbourne
2004 Bidyadanga Art, Art House Gallery, Sydney
2004 Bidyadanga Artists, Raft Art Space, Darwin
2004 Desert to Saltwater,Short st. Gallery @ Mary Place Gallery, Paddington
2003 Manjyiljara, Short st. Gallery, Broome WA

Collections
University of Newcastle
National Museum of Australia
Queensland Art Gallery
National Gallery of Australia
National Gallery of Victoria
Felton Collection
Museum and Art Gallery of Northern Territory
Laverty Collection
Dr Ian Bernhardt Collection
William Mora Collection
Sam Barry Collection
Harvey Wagner Collection, USA
Dr Ian Constable Collection
Myer Collection
Newcastle Regional Art Gallery
Canning Stock Route Project Collection
Big River Collection
Wesfarmers Collection
Leslie Walton Collection
Art Gallery of Western Australia

Awards
2010 Hedland Art Awards - Most Outstanding Work
2011 Winner Western Australian Artist, West Australian Indigenous Art Award 2011 Hedland Art Awards