Awelye

Galya’s work is distinctive and highly individual. Her early paintings, dating from around 2004, drew on Portulaca oleracea—known as ‘munyeroo’—a grass once abundant in the Utopia region and an important food source for generations. Its tiny black seed became central to her imagery, with Galya adopting its half-circle form as a dominant motif in her paintings. Over fifty years of cattle grazing greatly reduced the abundance of this grass. In her paintings, Galya recalls a time when its seeds formed an important part of her clan’s diet and held deep cultural significance. Important Dreaming stories grew around the grass and its seed, which, though easily overlooked from a Western perspective, remains highly valued by the women of Utopia. In her more recent paintings, Galya begins with a foundation of traditional Awelye women’s body painting, then overlays it with expressive coloured dotting that partially conceals the design beneath. The result is an enigmatic ‘look through’ effect, rich with echoes of Country and desert colour.