Bernadine Kemarre Johnson b. 1974

Bernadine Kemarre Johnson was born in 1974 in the small community of Ltyentye Apurte (Santa Teresa), 85km south-east of Mparntwe (Alice Springs) in the Northern Territory. Bernadine had a traditional upbringing before attending school in Alice Springs.

Bernadine comes from a family of famous artists that hail from the expansive Indigenous homelands region of Utopia in the Northern Territory - including her sister-in-law Anna Price Petyarre, and artists like Abie Loy Kemarre and Josie Petrick Kemarre. 

Bernadine grew up learning the Dreaming stories of her country, the sacred ceremonies and rituals, and the important bush foods and medicines - and now skillfully weaves her cultural identity into her paintings. Bernadine has developed a unique style of the Bush Medicine design, depicting the leaves and petals in brightly coloured brush strokes. Negative space is filled with delicate white dotting, representing the seeds that allow the sacred medicinal plants to continue to grow and regenerate. Bernadine's sharp brushstrokes and bright colours often lend a "bursting" or firework impression to her canvases.

Bernadine also paints the Pencil Yam, using symmetrical coloured strokes for the yams and white dots for their tiny seeds. Both bush medicine, a healing source, and pencil yams, a nutritious tucker, hold great cultural relevance for Aboriginal people of the arid desert regions.