Artist statement

‘Painting gives you a reason to yarn up about your stories. If I wasn’t painting, I wouldn’t know anything I’ve learnt. I wouldn’t know what my totems is, I wouldn’t know who my mob was or who my Aunties and Uncles are, I wouldn’t know any of that.

'This painting represents all the different nationalities mixed with Aboriginal mobs.’

About the artist

Thelma is a Palawa woman with family ties to Cape Barren Island off the north-east coast of Tasmania. She grew up in Swan Hill, a small town on the Murray River in the Loddon Mallee region.

Most of Thelma’s work is inspired by her totem, the Tasmanian emu. A former graffiti artist, she first started creating work with The Torch, an organisation that provides art, cultural and arts industry support to Indigenous offenders and ex-offenders in Victoria, in 2016.

This painting won the Metro Tunnel Creative Program 2D Award in the 2021 Koorie Art Show, presented by the Koorie Heritage Trust.

Instagram: @thebeethelmabeeton