Minbala Mami Kantri | Our Mother's Country

Rhonda: When I do my painting, my
painting is all about Mother Nature. Like
growing up through the Dry Season,
different colours changing and during the
Wet Season, the brightness of the plant,
the animals and the water. It makes me
feel relaxed, take out your stress.
Q: What do you think about each other's
art, about the similarities and
differences?
Margaret: Well, for me, we are from the
one mummy and daddy and great
grandmother and grandfather. We grew
up in the same way. We’ve been helping
each other for a long time.
Q: Tell us more about your Mami?
Margaret: All this painting that we've
done is about our mami country. And our
grandfather my mami’s father, and then
all of my uncles and all of my cousin. This
is where we live. Our mami’s country. The
land that hold us like this, we stay in this
one place.
Rhonda: Our painting are about mami.
Motherland and grandpa, that mami’s
uncle and mami’s father that we look
after the country for them.
Q: What would you say to somebody
else who wanted to be an artist and had
this gift to share?
Margaret: You just have to try and try!
When you do a painting and you make a
mistake, like a mistake in everything that
you do you got to keep going, you can't
just stop there. You just gotta focus on
one way and keep going. Don't stop.
Otherwise, you'll be going downhill you
know? We go downhill but we come up
again. It doesn't stop there.
Rhonda: That’s what I was doing, I end up
doing my own painting, and the basket
weaving. So I won my battle, I got the
hang of it now.
Above: Doreen Ponto (Mami)
Below: Long Billabong by Rhonda Duncan