Amanda Westley
Mi: mini (Woman)
My name is Amanda Westley,
I am a Ngarrindjeri woman and artist, born in Victor Harbor, South Australia in 1985. My totems are the whale, pelican and black swan. Growing up I experienced the best of both worlds living the farm life 12kms out of coastal country town of Victor Harbor. My father was a boat builder so the water and the ocean have always been a big part of my life. My painting style is dot work and the bright colours from my coastal country hometown and the ocean are represented through my paintings. I have been painting from a very young age and my style is contemporary Aboriginal dot art, I have always enjoyed painting and the calm that it brought. My paintings represent country, for Aboriginal people land has a spiritual and cultural connection and is so important to our identity and way of life. With my painting I have used a combination of pinks, yellows, blues, greens and oranges to represent how I see my Ngarrindjeri country, the small country town near the ocean. My family is one of the oldest Aboriginal families here on the south coast so this land I call home has been a part of my family for a very long time, and by creating these paintings I am acknowledging the important connection my family have with this land.
Exhibitions
Traversing Nature, 26/02/2022 to 18/03/2022, Artworx Gallery, Goolwa SA
SALA August 2021 Artworx Gallery, Goolwa SA
Small and Humble, 9 July - 3 August 2020, Gallery of Small Things (GOST) and Humble House
gallery, Canberra (ACT), Australia
Gallery swap with GOST, 16 April - 3 May, 2020, The Corner Store Gallery, Orange, New South
Wales
Ngarrindjeri Ruwe, 14 September - 1 December, 2019, McLaren Vale, South Australia (SA)
Living Arts, 3 - 19 August 2019, Coral Street Art Space, Victor Harbor, SA
NAIDOC 2019, 7 - 14 July 2019, Signal Point Gallery, Goolwa, SA
Spirit of Place, January 2019, Japingka Aboriginal Art Gallery, Western Australia, (WA)
The Heysen Art Prize for Landscape 2018, 6 October – 9 December, 2018, Hahndorf Academy, SA
Loreto Spring Art Show, 7 - 9 September 2018, Loreto College, SA
SA Living Arts SALA Festival, August 2018, Kiri Kiri Art Gallery, Victor Harbor,
SA
Stump Hill Gallery, March 2018, McLaren Vale, SA
Ngayuku Ngura - My Country, 30 May - 24 June 2018, The Hahndorf Academy, SA
Talking Land Lines, talking colours, 9 February - 14 March 2018, Japingka Aboriginal Art Gallery, WA
Let’s Take The Next Steps, 29 May 2017, the Living Kaurna Cultural Centre, Warriparinga, SA
Uwankara Together, June - July 2017, Signal Point Gallery, Goolwa, SA
Tarnanthi, 11 October 2017, The Hahndorf Academy, SA
RAW Signature, 1 April 2016, The Producers, SA
Malpa Wiru Good Friends, June - July 2016, Signal Point Gallery, Goolwa, SA
RAW Splendour, 4 June 2015, The Currumbin RSL, Queensland
Awards / Prizes
Finalist, The Heysen Art Prize for Landscape 2018, Hahndorf Academy, SA
Art Commissions / Collaborations
Commission, Victor Harbor Medical Centre - three artworks for their interiors, 29 March 2019
Collaboration with wine maker, Somos (@somoswines) to design label artwork for a bottle of
vermentino, 2020
Collaboration with clothing brand, Rolla’s Jeans (@rollasjeans) and Uptown Local,
(@uptown_local) to design artwork for men’s shirts, 2019/2020
Collaboration with Lifewear Australia to make official NAIDOC merchandise, 2019
Collaboration with clothing brand, KarlaCola (@karla_cola), to make reusable food wraps, 2019
Collaboration with clothing brand, KarlaCola (@karla_cola), to design artwork for two dresses (Thungarri Voices – pink/red design and Kondoli Whale – blue design), 2019
Collaboration with Encounter Bay Football Club to design their 2019 Indigenous round guernseys, 2019
Collaboration with sunglasses and eyeware store, Aya Optical (@ayaeyewear), located in North
Vancouver, British Columbia, to design 2 patterns based on indigenous art, 2019
Collaboration with modern cloth nappies brand, Designer Bums (@desnerbums_mcn), 2019/2018
Adam Goodes and Michael O’Laughlin Go foundation collaboration 2019, 2021 & 2021
Collaboration with 5 Ngarrindjeri artists to create artwork for the Granite Island Causeway 2021
Education
Awarded Certificate III in Learning an Endangered Aboriginal Language, Tauondi College, 2019, Port Adelaide, SA
