Regina Pilawuk Wilson
Regina Pilawuk Wilson is an Australian Aboriginal artist known for her paintings, printmaking and woven fiber-artworks. She paints syaws (fish nets), warrgarri (dilly bag), and message sticks. Her work has been shown in many Australian and international museums, collections and galleries. She has won the General Painting category of the Telstra National Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Art Awards in 2003 for a syaw (fish net) painting. Wilson has been a finalist for the Kate Challis RAKA Award, the Togart Award, and the Wynne Prize. Biography Regina Pilawuk Wilson was born in 1948 at Wudikapildyerr in the Daly River region of the Northern Territory of Australia. She is a master weaver and took up acrylic painting in 2001. Her subject matter is based around weaving fibre art. At age ten, her grandmother taught her where, when, and how to collect the right grasses, vines, and sources of natural colour like flowers, berries, and roots. She learned many weaving techniques. She perfected them over the decades and became an authority figure for her sense of familial and cultural identity. Regina has also explored durrmu (body painting dot). She has created silk screen prints and etchings with Basil Hall Editions and Red Hand. At Peppimenarti, she has played a major role in establishing the Durrmu Arts center in 2007. She lives at Peppimenarti with her three daughters, three sons, two sisters, and many grandchildren. Her sisters are artists Mabel Jimarin and Margaret Kundu. Peppimenarti Along with her husband Harold Wilson, she founded the Peppimenarti Community in 1971. Harold Wilson was born in 1938 at Peppimenarti. His mother was a Nganiwuwumeri woman from the Moyle River area and his father was a European. He died in 1998. Peppimenarti means “large rock.” This permanent settlement made for the Ngangikurrungurr people is situated amid floodplains and wetlands at the center of the Daly River Aboriginal Reserve, which lies 250 kilometers southwest of Darwin. This location is a crucial dreaming site for the Ngangikurrungurr language group. In the tropical wetland and floodplain country, the community has restricted access during the wet season, which has actually been an advantage in keeping the law and culture strong. There are about 150 to 200 people living there. Many of them move around in the dry season, go to outstations, move on to another community, or come back when it rains. At Durrmu Arts, most of the prints are done from dilly bags and basket weavings. They teach the children the language, the culture, and how to do weaving. It's important for Wilson to teach them so weaving remains strong. In 2011, the Peppimenarti Association formed the Durrmu Arts Aboriginal Corporation to represent an internationally renowned group of weavers and painters who work with durrmu designs. It stands strong today as a peaceful town. There is little tolerance for alcohol consumption, formal education is highly valued. Wilson and the other women at Durrmu Arts reinvigorated the tradition of large, circular mats by combining brilliant colours. She later began to paint