The remarkable career of Gracie Greene, whose unique paintings tell layered narratives of Country and her own story as a senior woman and champion of culture, is the focus of a new exhibition at Lawrence Wilson Art Gallery.

Gracie Greene - It's Time! is curated by Lynley Nargoordah - special projects manager of Mangkaja Arts, and Lee Kinsella - Cruthers Collection of Women's Art at The University of Western Australia, with support from The Berndt Museum as part of Perth Festival 2026.

Ms Nargoordah told National Indigenous Times Greene was an important trailblazer.

"It is significant - what she had fought for in the art movement in Balgo - being one of the first women to paint in the Art Centre, using traditional dots, and having being mentored by senior men," she said.

"To me, she is the leading lady behind the women in art movement."

Ms Greene, who passed away in 2025, experienced enormous social change in her lifetime and developed a visual language that fused her intercultural knowledge of Country as well as Christian narratives.

Greene's parents moved from Kartamarnti Country, in the Desert, in the 1930s or 40s. She was among the first generation of children raised at the Balgo Mission, on the edges of the Tanami and Great Sandy Deserts, approximately 280km south of Halls Creek in the Kimberley region of WA.

After leaving the mission, Greene had more contact with family members and the senior women who shared the richness of traditional knowledge as well as the influence of the church. In the community, Biblical narratives, including intergenerational sagas of transgression, death and retribution, were often told in Kukatja and aligned with Desert creation stories featuring transformations between animal, human, spirit, geographical and astronomical forms, such as constellations in the night sky.

As she refined her painting practice throughout the 1980s, Greene developed a distinct visual style that fulfilled her responsibility to impart knowledge she gained from her mission upbringing and cultural knowledge of Country.

Greene also acted as an advocate and cultural broker for other female artists in Balgo, including negotiating permission for women to incorporate dots in their paintings. By the mid to late-1980s, Greene was recognised as an important artist and teacher within the community. She was a member of the steering group which established the new Culture Centre at Balgo, which was the foundation upon which Warlayirti Artists Aboriginal Corporation was established in 1987.

Gracie Greene: It's Time! celebrates Greene and her innovative style of combining lively figuration within finely dotted topographies showing stories that unfold dynamically across the canvas.

The exhibition runs until April 4, and the Lawrence Wilson Art Gallery is open Tuesday to Saturday from 11am to 4pm. Admission is free.

Note: Aboriginal people are advised that this exhibition includes the names and images of people who have died.