"When I was young my Nan took me for a walk down the paddock in the dark with a torch in hand. We stopped under a big flowering gumtree. I want to show you something very special, she said. She shone the torch to the branches and there a flying fox hung with it's head peeking out. Nan said, "there is Peek-a-boo, he is real handsome heh!" Then she told me that whenever I can I must tell people about the animals that need to be looked after and that mankind was destroying Peek-a-boo's environment. Nan also said mankind are good at causing problems but not good and fixing them."
Aunty Bea, “Nambooka” Edwards is an established artist with a deep cultural connection stemming from her Gunai Kurnai ancestry on her fathers side and Tasmanian Aboriginal descent on her mothers side.
Incredibly talented, yet humble, Aunty Bea paints each acrylic or watercolour piece with intricate detail, exploring Australian wildlife layered in their environment.
Aunty Bea had a strong connection with her grandmother, who taught her how to paint and taught her the art of observation of the natural world. It was her grandmother who affectionately gave her the name “Nambooka”, which means many flows of water, reflective of her personality as a spirited child. With a thorough understanding of Aboriginal issues, she worked for many years community health, now retired from her role as manager of the Winja Ulupna Women's Recovery Centre. She raised three children of her own and fostered many more, reflecting on knowing what it is like to not be around family.
Aunty Bea is drawn to the beauty of the natural environment taking inspiration from wildlife for her arts practice. This has been the constant in her life, since she was a child, the natural world and all that it has to teach us.
As family connections and cultural practices have been lost over the years, Aunty Bea sets out to remember the stories that her ancestors passed down, bringing them alive again through her artwork and sharing them generously with the world.
30 x 40cm
Acrylic on stretched canvas
#82-24