Badu Gili: Wonder Women

Community: Ballarat, South-east region  
Language group: Wwathawurru, South-east region

Born in 1944 in Warrnambool, Victoria, Marlene Gilson is recognised for her naïve-style paintings that question the colonial grasp on the past by reclaiming and recontextualising the representation of historical events. She typically explores Aboriginal stories relating to her Wadawurrung lands and stories from the Victorian goldfields. Gilson is descended from King Billy, a leader from Ballarat who was alive during the Eureka Stockade. Bunjil, the eagle, and Waa, the crow, are present in all of Gilson’s works.

Art caption:
Marlene Gilson   
'Ballarat, my country' 2019   
Synthetic polymer paint on linen, 120 x 150 cm   
Art Gallery of New South Wales, Mollie Gowing Acquisition fund for Contemporary Aboriginal art 2020   
© Marlene Gilson   
Photo: AGNSW, Diana Panuccio

Community: Ntaria (Hermannsburg), Central Desert region 
Language group: Western Arrarnta, Central Desert region

Judith Inkamala is the chairperson and a senior member of Hermannsburg Potters Aboriginal Corporation, having joined the founding group of artists in 1993. Inkamala is an inspiring and respected leader in her community of Ntaria (Hermannsburg) in the Northern Territory, recognised for her unwavering dedication and commitment to intergenerational sharing of cultural and ceramic knowledge.  In her works, Inkamala depicts her lived histories and distinct Western Arranta Country. Like many Western Arrarnta artists, Inkamala’s painting style is informed by the watercolours of Albert Namatjira and the work of his peers at Ntaria. 

Art caption:
Judith Inkamala   
'Ura Kngarra Mpintjama (A big fire is coming)' 2020   
Terracotta and underglazes, 44 x 31 cm   
Art Gallery of New South Wales, purchased with funds provided by the Mollie Douglas Bequest Fund 2020   
© Judith Inkamala   
Photo: AGNSW, Felicity Jenkins

Community: Titjikala, Central Desert region  
Language group: Luritja, Central Desert region

Sally M Nangala Mulda was born in 1957 at Titjikala, south of Mparntwe (Alice Springs), to parents from the Erldunda and Aputula regions. She went to school at Amoonguna. After losing the use of her left arm in a childhood accident, Mulda later faced the challenge of losing her sight in one eye. She married and had her only child as a young woman, but lost both her husband and her baby daughter. Widowed and without children, she lived with friends and extended family in Mparntwe for many years. Having never painted before joining Tangentyere Artists in 2008, from the outset Mulda sought to record the interactions that constitute life for so many Aboriginal people today. 

Art caption:
Sally M. Nangala Mulda   
'Tail get cold...' 2018   
Synthetic polymer paint on linen, 45 x 90 cm   
Art Gallery of New South Wales, Mollie Gowing Acquisition fund for Contemporary Aboriginal art 2019   
© Sally M Nangala Mulda
Photo: AGNSW, Diana Panuccio

Community: Mparntwe (Alice Springs), Central Desert region  
Language group: Western Arrernte, Central Desert region

Marlene Rubuntja is an Arrernte woman, born in 1961 in Mparntwe (Alice Springs). She lives and works on the Yarrenyty Arltere Town Camp. Rubuntja is an artist whose practice is embedded deeply in humour, story, generosity and place. With a profound insight into the complex issues of life in Central Australia, she has found a way, through her art, to celebrate the beauty, question the injustices, and showcase the unique resilient spirit of Mparntwe. As a senior artist at Yarrenyty Arltere Artists, Rubuntja works with soft sculpture, ink on paper, film and storytelling. 

Art caption:
Marlene Rubuntja   
'Woman with Dilly Bags and Dilly Bag hat' 2019   
Mixed media, plastic, woolen blankets dyed with bush plants, cotton, wool, hessian, feathers, 26 x 31 x 34 cm   
Art Gallery of New South Wales, purchased with funds provided by the Aboriginal Collection Benefactors Group 2019   
© Marlene Rubuntja       
Photo: AGNSW, Felicity Jenkins

Community: Sydney, South-east region 
Language group: Kamilaroi, Northern Riverine region

Aunty Elaine Russell was born in 1941 at Tingha, New South Wales, and spent her early years at La Perouse in Sydney. Her family then moved to the Murrin Bridge mission, on the Lachlan River, near Lake Cargelligo, New South Wales. Russell began her formal artistic career in 1993, at the age of 52, when she enrolled in the Certificate of Visual Arts course at the Eora Centre TAFE (Technical and Further Education) in Redfern, Sydney. Russell’s illustrative paintings of mission life, such as attending school and routine inspection days, are animated in her bold and colourful style. 

Elaine passed away in 2017, but her legacy and stories remain integral to the narrative of Aboriginal people’s experiences in New South Wales.

Art caption:
Elaine Russell   
'Lachlan River, our childhood dreams' 1994   
Synthetic polymer paint on cardboard, 73.2 x 99.9 cm 
Art Gallery of New South Wales, purchased with funds provided by the Australian Collection Benefactors Program 1995   
© Estate of Elaine Russell   
Photo: AGNSW, Christopher Snee

Community: Indulkana, Southern Desert region  
Language group: Yankunytjatjara, Southern Desert region  

Kaylene Whiskey lives in Indulkana Community on the Aṉangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara (APY) Lands in the remote north-west of South Australia and works at Iwantja Arts. Her paintings celebrate heroic women, pop culture idols and traditional Aṉangu culture, reflecting the blended reality that is contemporary life in a remote Indigenous community of Central Australia. Her practice links the culture of her community’s elders with the experience of the younger generation who have grown up with contemporary influences.

Art caption:
Kaylene Whiskey   
'Dolly visits Indulkana' 2020   
Acrylic on linen with plastic jewels, 168 x 198.5 cm   
Art Gallery of New South Wales, purchased with funds provided by the Aboriginal Collection Benefactors Group 2020   
© Kaylene Whiskey       
Photo: AGNSW, Mim Stirling