Janangoo Butcher Cherel

Butcher was born at Jalnganjoowa, near the original homestead on one of the longest established cattle stations in the Kimberley, Fossil Downs, and later lived in town at Fitzroy Crossing.
His mother was Kija and his father, Gooniyandi. He spoke both languages as well as some Walmajarri and Bunuba. Both of his parents worked on the station in and around the homestead and he recalls being taken out bush for walkabout and at law time. With the two of them working on the station, it follows that Butcher also spent most of his working life on Fossil. As a stockman he worked cattle, droving from Fitzroy  Crossing to Derby and Broome. This time was hard as he remembers, “real hard”.
Butcher was a key elder of the Gooniyandi language group and has been instrumental in the retention of law ceremony at Muludja Community. He saw Aboriginal law and language as fundamentally important and feels uneasy that young people today do not have this tradition to refer to as they have not been educated as he was.
Butcher’s works provide glimpses of his cultural and physical environment.
He began painting relatively late in life as did many of his peers. His paintings document natural phenomena and are a metaphorical reference to both his country, Imanara, and his life experiences. He is well represented nationally and in many private collections around the world. Kumanjayi Cherel was recognized as one of Australia’s leading contemporary artists. He has been listed twice as one of the 50 most collectable artists in Australia by Australian Art Collector and was declared a ‘State Living Treasure’ by the Government of Western Australia in 2004.
Many works were on paper rather than canvas, plus some ceramics and incised pearl-shells; and they can be found in the collections of the NGA, the NGV and the Art Gallery of WA; also the Holmes a Court, Kerry Stokes and Laverty Collections. Apart from the Aboriginal & Pacific Art Gallery in Sydney, Cherel showed recently with Brigitte Braun in Melbourne, Raft Artspace in Darwin and the Australian Art Print Network.