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Pilbara Country

Pilbara is the country where we the Yindjibarndi people live and share many of our cultural stories and history that have been passed onto us by our ancestors, of how they used to walk through the flat country we call the Table Lands, visiting family members at nearby stations.

Our Country has so much to offer. Bush foods and medicine as well as animals such as kangaroo, emu, goanna and turkey. When the rains come our rivers are full and we all love to go out and spend the day fishing. We are also close to the ocean so we often go fishing there as well. During the holidays many of our families go bush to enjoy what the Country offers. The beauty of our Country we see through our eyes like the wildflowers blooming as nature takes its course. Our Country is still full of riches it always gives me joy to be a part of it. We are connected to our land. It is a part of who we are. 

Categories: Yinjaa-Barni Art

Name: Melissa Sandy

Language: Yindjibarndi

Biography:

Melissa Sandy was born in Port Hedland in the Pilbara region of Western Australia. 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. The rest of her childhood and teenage years she lived with her family moving through South Australia, the Pilbara and the Kimberely. After boarding school in Darwin, she relocated to Roebourne and has been there ever since, staying close to family. She is mother to seven 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 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. She won the overall Pilbara Indigenous Category at the Cossack art awards in 2024 and  was announced as a finalist for the Telstra NATSIAA.

Most recently, Melissa has developed her first solo exhibition, presented by Perth Festival as part of the Boorloo Contemporary programming. The exhibition, titled ‘The Void’, expresses Melissa's journey through grief and healing after losing a loved one. This body of work is a tribute to her late mum (aunt) and seeks to create a space for healing for herself, her community and anyone who has lost someone they love.

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