Under a new moon

My name is Chantelle Mulladad. I am proud to be an Arrernte woman, living and working here in the heart of Central Australia. For the past seven years, I have been part of the Keringke Arts community – the art centre at Santa Teresa. Painting is not just my work: it is woven into my life, something that has travelled with me since my childhood. Some of my earliest and most cherished memories are of sitting with my grandmother, carefully decorating inernte seeds to create beautiful necklaces. Those quiet moments, learning from her hands and her stories, are the roots of my creative journey. I feel grateful every day to work in a place where I am surrounded by other artists – people who inspire me, challenge me, and share their own visions and ideas. It is a place of connection and creativity. My artistic style is vibrant, joyful, and full of life. I love to play with colour, exploring how different shades and tones can blend together or stand apart. Mixing and layering colours is exciting for me – I am always seeking new combinations, trying to make them sing on the canvas. Often, an idea will simply arrive in my mind, sparked by a memory, a feeling, or something I notice in the land around me. My challenge is to transform that vision from my imagination onto the canvas, capturing not just how it looks, but how it feels. I am drawn to detail and contrast, and I like my paintings to be visually engaging, to hold the viewer’s eye and invite them to look more closely, to find new shapes and meanings with each viewing. This year, for Desert Mob, I have created a work featuring a tree painted in my unique dot painting style. The inspiration came during a quiet moment out bush, sitting beneath the vast desert sky. It was there that the idea for Under a new moon took shape, as I watched the stars emerge and felt the shift of night falling on the land. Through this painting, I wanted to capture the transition as the sun dips below the horizon and the desert is bathed in moonlight. I focused on the deep purples of the distant hills, the rich red of the sand and rocks, and the silvery glow of the moonshining on an ancient tree. This artwork is a tribute to my country, to the peace and inspiration I find in these moments, and to the enduring presence of nature in Arrernte life and spirit. CHANTELLE MULLADAD