Biography:
Leah is a Woddorddaa woman, born in Derby WA 1974. She started painting with her grandmother, Elkin Umbagai, who brought her up until she passed away when Leah was five years old. From then, Leah lived with Mildred and Donny Woolagoodja, who further influenced her passion for art.
Leah has always liked to be around the older people; liked the stories her grandmother and grandfather used to tell, passing on the law of Country, telling her the significance of each animal and the way to live life.
Leah says her passion for art comes mainly from the time spent with her grandfather and the incredible, spiritual experiences she had while exploring with him. Her grandfather used to take her to the cave sites. “He taught me about the land, water, rocks, teaching me what I needed to learn about our culture. We walked seven hours a day looking at the caves. When you are there, the spirit speaks to you. It is glad you are around. Some places can be interpreted and in others I wonder what they are saying. This is why I paint.”
Leah's paintings reflect her relationships, clan, country and her dreaming. "I dream when I am in my country. In my dreams, my grandfather and grandmother give me a song or dance but I say no I want to paint. I believe the spirits show you things through dreams. I often dream what I paint.”
Leah’s totem is the freshwater barramundi. Leah explains, “It is my ungud, my dreaming. It belongs to the story about Ungud (the snake). In traditional storytelling, ungud is given to the father or grandfather through dreams or as a living animal to the parent. When the child dies the spirit returns to the animal. What is taken by the earth is given back. If you have a special animal you cannot eat it. It just doesn’t taste right.”
Leah combines her two cultures through an amalgamation of art techniques. Leah says, "as a painter, I'll try anything. At first I didn't like using ochre on canvas as, traditionally, ochre is painted on clay, slate, or bark. At first it was awkward to change the traditional way of painting, but now the paintings I make look beautiful and use the two mediums."
Leah aims to pass on stories to her young relatives by painting and drawing with them. “I draw cars, cartoons and stuff they play with, and I show them how to draw faces. We paint together. I look at stuff and I can draw it. I tell them everyone has their own way of looking. We are all different."
