Betty Chimney
Artwork title: Ngayuku Ngura (My Country)
Medium: Acrylic on linen
Size: 122 x 152 cm
About the Artwork
My painting is about the Country that is my home, Indulkana (APY Lands, South Australia). I feel truly connected to the place I’m painting and it’s incredibly important to me. My painting shows the rockhole that’s over there at Iwantja creek, we would camp there and there is a soakage that we would drink the nice cold water from. I paint the waterhole, the soakage and then all the tracks around the place. For a long time I've been painting this way - painting all those different things, painting the story of this place, all the good stuff!
About the Artist
Place of Birth: Port Augusta, SA
Language Group: Yankunytjatjara
Betty Chimney was born in Port Augusta and grew up in Coober Pedy before coming to live in Indulkana as a young girl.
Betty Chimney is a long-time artist and director of Iwantja Arts. A dedicated painter, Betty’s work is inspired by her ancestral Yankunytjatjara country and a determination to maintain her strong connection to country and culture.
In addition to her own painting practice, Betty works on large-scale collaborative paintings with her daughter Raylene Walatinna. Through the process of working together with her daughter on collaborative paintings, Betty continues the tradition of older women passing on their important knowledge of Tjukurpa (Anangu cultural stories) and Ngura (Country) to younger women.
Image credit Courtesy of Iwantja Arts, photo by Meg Hansen