A unique journey

I am a proud descendant of the Wiradjuri Ngiyampaa and Barkindji nations. My ancestral ties are through my mother, Lorna Gibson. My mum's parents: my grandparents, were drovers.  My grandparents Fred Gibson and Elsie Kennedy are from near Lake Cargelligo, Euabalong on the Lachlan River in NSW, Wiradjuri Ngurambang (country). I was very fond of my late Grandmother Elsie, who always had lots of stories to tell, one of which she told frequently and that was that she was born at the Butt of a tree near White Cliffs, NSW. 

My grandfather was a drover when he met and married my grandmother out west and when my mother 
Lorna was born in 1938, they continued droving. This led our family to Dubbo where my grandparents would remain raising my mum and her siblings. Once at Dubbo they settled the family near Dundullimal 
Station, and continued droving. Mum still has fond memories of Dundullimal, as a child she tells off playing around a birthing tree which today, remains intact within the now tourist attraction and is an important 
landmark dear to me.  

I call it a tale of two worlds colliding when as a young woman, Lorna Gibson, (my mum) would meet and then go on to marry my dad, (George Thomas) from the United Kingdom who was droving nearby at the time. My dad was given the nickname of Pommy George, from my grandfather as he had quite a strong British accent. Twenty years senior to my mum they would meet in Dubbo fall in love, get married and together they had six children (two deceased). Together they raised two boys and two girls in Dubbo, with me being their third child. I had a relationship with my dad like no other, we were extremely close, and, on his passing, I have always felt like something is missing and that a large piece of me went with him that day. Even though my cultural connection was strong, it was a quite different time in the 1960’s and 1970’s but my matrilineal family members had traditional artistic talents of carving, sculpting, and painting. 

Whilst in school art was my favourite subject, it was identified that I had true potential and was offered a Scholarship in Fine Art away from home. Sadly, I could not accept, due to family reasons beyond my control. Feeling compelled to put my art behind me I forged ahead working in government positions, getting married and raising my family in Dubbo where I have strong ties to community and family. It seems like a lifetime, but after 35 years of leaving school, it would take some serious health issues which would be, suffering a stroke in 2017, surviving this to then be diagnosed for breast cancer in 2018. I began to start winding back. After a gift of art supplies from my beautiful family I felt propelled to finally pick up where I left off. I am completely self-taught I revisited my craft by painting still life to beautiful detail part time.

My dream of creating art full time, through a big family decision had come true. I did not set out with any genre in mind, the rapid rise in demand when I exhibited my first Aboriginal dot set, Finding My Place was so healing for me to experience the process of sharing the story and it was so popular, I knew at that moment, this is my (spiritual) journey. Creating modern cultural works is so satisfying, then it took the lock down of 2020 to dedicate myself full time to my craft, I truly found my place. As an artist and storyteller this journey found me expressing myself in still life through art by adding meaningful titles. After a few short years and private exhibitions, I quickly found my niche and now I am excited to say in great demand telling my stories of which I create into modern contemporary Aboriginal designs.  

Like many artists I follow, I am further discovering my Aboriginal identity and culture through art. My heritage and culture were just taken for granted to a degree because that is just the way everyone around me was and still is, we all have strong ties to family, country, language, and traditions but there is so much still to know, this culture is so old. I have this amazing ability to recognise art when others see an object. I immediately see a painting in a woven Coolamon gift from my sister, or the colour and texture in sandstone, or waves.

By using art, I document my own story, health battles like in Battle Scars. The ability of this art form and my talent of storytelling resonate so widely. The way I use the dots and ancient traditional symbols in my own way, create modern contemporary art and it has become widely appealing. There is a deeply personal, very proud while private connection to my culture. I love that my artwork genuinely touches people so emotionally, and that the stories I write to describe each piece are so relatable.  

Style wise, the centuries old traditional art of dot painting and symbols are widely used by the Wiradjuri, then it is by my own interpretation of those that my unique contemporary lens that convey this story. The composition is described by many who have admired my work, acquired or commissioned my pieces, as beautifully structured, crisp, uniquely distinctive, and well defined. Other artists have stated my work to be unlike any other they have seen. I do have a design flair and follow fashions and trends, I believe it helps with wide appeal.  The reaction from everyone to date is “I need one” prompting me to offer high quality professional prints of my collections. 

In addition, I can tell the story of other people, through my own artistic lens from their brief and colour palette, these private commissions are in very high demand. With multiple paintings underway at any one time, I have an abundance of stories yet to tell, I have also been commissioned by businesses and government organisations with an unveiling at the end of October. I am also excited to share, that two of my works premiered on The Block in October 2021! I am just bursting with pride and still pinching myself! I was asked to paint two pieces and only given 5 days to complete, and hand deliver to Melbourne for reveal.

While my followers have mainly shared the joy of my Journey Series and the black and white Finding my Place collection through 2019 and 2020, a particular 2021 piece named Warranha - Strong is a turning point in that series. Warranha is not only representing a strong Aboriginal woman, it is also a story against family violence, it is a story for ALL. This special piece had Art buffs claiming it “an exhibition piece”.  I revealed Warranha at the Dubbo Art Fair in August 2021, it was sold but was able to be much admired by over 3000 visitors. Warranha is now available in beautiful prints to allow my story to continue to reach others. I then went on to enter a special piece called Sweet Rain Winter into the Cowra Calleen Art Award 2021 and was successful in becoming a finalist, I was amazed at my achievement and proud to see how far I had come in such a brief time.

The popularity of my art peaked after joining Buy from the Bush and being featued in their campaigns. With record sales of prints and a rush of commissions called for more colour, so my recent work is an explosion of colour from mother nature. The current collections of prints are my Woven Series, now available and the yet to be revealed Sweet Rain Series by the end of 2021. This quick rise in popularity is amazing, I have achieved so much in a short time, however my most satisfying achievement is raising my three amazing children with my husband.

From the black and white beginning of this journey, I know this gift is a vessel I can use to celebrate my culture, create authentic but modern contemporary Aboriginal art through my lens. I hope to teach others, I want to ensure the art of storytelling using symbols and language continues through the generations, and helps others find their place and experience joy from their culture and community. I have met fantastic people and experienced opportunities I could never have imagined. I have experienced needing my beautiful community like never before, and they rallied. This connection to community and country, the amazing spectrum of colour and nature has brought me such joy… the journey continues.

Lizzy x