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Letting Go

This painting represents the warmth and love I have for a lady I was proud to call my mother. After losing her, I as an artist felt myself being motivated to do a series of paintings to deal with my grief and the void she has left in my heart and life itself. The earlier pieces in the series used dark colours to represent the devastation and overwhelming grief of losing my mum (Aunty). I realised this painting is me slowly moving through the grief and beginning to find light again. This is my journey as an artist, using my painting to navigate the process that we all go through in life called grief. After working on this piece I realised that the colours I have used in the background represent the warmth and love my mum had for her family and those around her. The copper represents my Mum’s love and respect for her Country and many trips she enjoyed travelling with loved ones out bush.

Categories: Yinjaa-Barni Art

Name: Melissa Sandy

Language: Yindjibarndi

Biography:

Melissa Sandy was born in Port Hedland in the Pilbara region of Western Australia in 1977. Her mother was a Yindjibarndi woman from Roebourne and her father is from Adelaide. She spent her early years in Roebourne and when she was four, moved with her parents to South Australia (SA). The rest of her childhood and teenage years she lived with her family moving through South Australia, Pilbara and Kimberely. She went to boarding school in Darwin. When she finished Year 12, she went back to Roebourne and during this time she suffered the loss of her mum. Melissa has lived in Roebourne ever since, staying close to family and keeping her connection with her mother. She is mother to eight children of her own and is grandmother to five.

Melissa started painting in late 2006. She has no formal training and painting started as something to pass the time. She quickly developed her own style with a natural flair for design and dot painting. As she continues on her painting journey she has developed a more contemporary style. Melissa is meticulous about her choice of colours, spending a lot of time mixing her paints to achieve the right colours to complement each other. The stories that go with her paintings express the land and the plants from her Country and the stories told by her Elders. Melissa’s work is deeply personal and she is known for expressing her emotions through her paintings. She uses her art as a way of processing everyday life so her paintings give intimate insight into her inner world.

Melissa has exhibited at locally and nationally including Tracks We Share (AGWA), Colours of Our Country (Perth), Chalk Horse Gallery (Sydney) and Cossack. Melissa’s artistic achievements continue to grow and receive recognition Australia wide. In 2023, Melissa won the Judge’s Prize in the Jury Art Prize and was a finalist again in 2024. Most recently Melissa was announced as a finalist for the Telstra National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Awards.

Melissa is currently working on her first solo exhibition titled ‘The Void Series’, which expresses her journey through grief and healing after losing a loved one. This body of work is a tribute to her late mum (aunty) and seeks to create a space for healing for herself, her community and anyone who has lost someone they love.

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© the artist / art centre