Julie Dowling

Julie Dowling's paintings reinforce that the personal is always political. Weaving together the elements of portraiture, decoration and text they explore new interpretations of history and the relationships between white and Indigenous Australians.

Identifying herself as wudjalah, Badimaya, Yamatji and Nyoongar, Julie and her twin sister Carol were born in Perth in 1968, with fair skin.

Julie was the first Aboriginal woman to graduate from Fine Arts Painting at Curtin University.

In 1995 and 1998 Julie received Australia Council Development Grants and in 2005 she was awarded an $80 000 Fellowship from the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander arts board to produce a range of works inspired by her maternal grandmother’s country- the Gascoyne region of Western Australia.

Julie has twice been a finalist in the Archibald Portrait Prize, featured in the collections of most of the state galleries and has been named as one of Australian Art Collector magazine's most collectable artists.