Betty Bundamurra Ngarinyin, Worrora, Wunamba, b. 1960
17 3/4 x 47 1/4 in
'Aboriginal people make baskets and buckets and also implements and artifacts from certain trees and rocks and they spin hair to make belts to wear. The balmarra (ochre painted wooden and string objects) is to guide them safely on the journey by canoe or travel through the land. It protects us from evil spirits.' Betty was born at Karunji station where her father was a stockman. She was born in the bush while her parents were on a walkabout. At the age of three, after the death of her mother, Betty came to Kalumburu Mission Convent where she was looked after by Ignatia Ganwalla and the nuns. She worked in the mission baking bread and at the Kalumburu school as a teaching aid. Betty has five children and eleven grand children, and lives happily with her family in Kalumburu. Betty has held the position as an arts worker at Kira Kiro Art Centre, Kalumburu, since 2012 and was selected for the Art Gallery of Western Australia's Desert River Sea Visual Arts Leadership program.