Nellie Ngampa Coulthard
Artwork title: Tjuntala Ngurangka (Country with Acacia Wattle)
Medium: Acrylic paint on linen
Size: 167 x 152 cm
About the Artwork
I love painting the trees and flowers of the Country where I grew up - Yankunytjatjara Country near Oodnadatta. After the rain and before the summer starts, the landscape here changes colour with lots of wattle blossoms. My favourites trees are Tjuntala (Acacia Murrayana) with its beautiful yellow flowers. Its seeds are small and lined up in a row inside brown seed pods. When I was young my parents taught me how to grind Tjuntala seeds into a paste to eat. I paint the trees and flowers and it reminds me of my childhood, travelling on Country with my family.
About the Artist
Place of Birth: (near) Wintinna Station, SA
Language Group: Yankunytjatjara
Nellie Coulthard was born in the bush near the Wintinna Homestead Cattle Station, where her father worked as a shepard. Nellie and her family travelled constantly with her father while he undertook this roaming work.
As a young woman, Nellie worked in domestic service at the Granite Downs Cattle Station, which is where she met the young stockman who became her husband. They settled in Indulkana where they raised their children. Nellie worked at the then newly established Indulkana pre-school, playing an important role in the early-years education of the children in her community.
Following her retirement as an educator, Nellie has been a prolific artist, working across painting and tjanpi (native grass) weaving. Nellie’s paintings evoke her memories of her nomadic childhood, spent on country near Oodnadatta and specifically refer to the Tjuntala (Acacia murrayana / Colony Aattle) tree that were a source of bush food for her family.
Nellie was a finalist in the Wynne Prize at the Art Gallery of New South Wales in 2018, 2019 and 2022.
Image courtesy of Iwantja Arts, photo by Meg Hansen