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Published by on April 17, 2026

After the Cyclone (Allery)

I’m a Yindjibarndi woman, and this painting is about our Country after the rain.

This year we had a big cyclone, and there was so much rain. When that happens, everything changes. The rivers and creeks come alive again, running full and strong, and the Country just fills up with colour. It’s a beautiful time — everything is fresh, growing, and moving again. Our families can go out, go fishing, kids swimming, and we can sit together and enjoy that time on Country.

When there’s been that much rain, the water stays for a long time. The rivers stay full, and it gives life to everything around it. You see it in the plants, in the grasses, in the way the land looks and feels.

I get a lot of inspiration when I’m flying over Country. When I look down from the plane and I know I’m coming over Churrada Station, I can see my home — the hills and the landscape that I love. Seeing it from above, you really notice the patterns, the way the water moves through the land, and how the colours spread out.

I love the wildflowers that come after the rain. There’s so many colours, but that bright yellow flower really stands out to me — it’s everywhere now. I’ve even got some growing in my yard that I look after and watch every day. The spinifex is so green too, covering the land, dotting the landscape everywhere you look.

This painting is about that feeling — when the rain has come, the Country is full, and everything is alive again.

Categories: Yinjaa-Barni Art

Name: Allery Sandy

Language: Yindjibarndi

Biography:

Allery Sandy is a proud Yindjibarndi woman, daughter of Sandy Andrews and Lila King. She was born in Roebourne, the fourth of eleven children and has two daughters and a son. Allery's first job was with Community Welfare selling second-hand clothing, followed by running a play group in the community for local children. In 1986 she was employed as the Aboriginal Islander Education worker in Roebourne pre-primary School, followed in 1990 by teaching her own Yindjibarndi language through a LOTE (Languages Other Than English) program. In 2001 she left the school and found work with a team of women doing cooking and sewing and she is also involved in the ministry of the Pilbara Aboriginal Church.

Allery started painting in February 2006, enrolling in short courses in painting and design. She loves to paint the landscape of her Country from an aerial perspective. She begins her works with an underpainting using sponge and brush work and then finishes off with a fine layer of dot work, creating a sense of movement and depth of field on the canvas. Allery also loves depicting the wildflowers of her Country. She enjoys painting the bush seeds, its creeks and rivers, wildflowers in season and trees that are specific to her Pilbara Country. Her style continues to expand and more recently she has started painting aerial landscapes with fine line work on Pilbara earth.

Allery regularly exhibits in galleries around the country and her works are enjoyed in private and public collections around the world. She was the Chairperson of Yinjaa-Barni Art from 2006 - 2018, is a highly respected Elder of the Yindjibarndi community and a passionate communicator of her culture. Her two daughters have followed in their mother’s footsteps and are also established artists at Yinjaa-Barni Art Centre.

In 2014 Allery featured in Marni (My Painting Style), a long form documentary of her painting a commissioned work in her signature style. She is also a performer and cultural advisor in various performances with Big hART including ‘Hipbone Sticking Out’ and ‘Songs for Freedom’, touring nationally.

Allery has been a finalist in the very prestigious NATSIAAs three times, and in 2025 traveled abroad for the first time at 70 years old as the signature artist for the Colours of our Country exhibition in London, UK. Most recently, her artwork was shown as part of the Singapore Art Fair in early 2026, represented by Chalk Horse Gallery in Sydney.

© the artist / art centre