Susan Peters Nampitjin

Susan Peters is a contemporary artist of the Walmajarri people (Tanami desert of South East Kimberleys, Western Australia)who currently lives in Townsville. She comes from a family of painters. Her Indigenous culture is often reflected in contemporaneous pictorials of bush plants, foods, medicine and native ecology. Through her wider art practice she experiments with a range of art media and traditions ranging from painting to printmaking.

"I was born on Argyle station in 1963 near the banks of the Behn River, and I lived there with my family for four years. My family worked as jackaroos, stockmen, camp cooks, yard builders, and fencers. As time passed in 1970 the Ord river scheme came to be, and my family was trucked back to the desert. I was removed from mymother and travelled to Queensland with my father, sister, and carer mother. I am a descendant of Walmajarri and Ngarti People (Yagga Yagga Way) who hold ancient stories, Waljirri (dreamtime) ceremonies, and oral history of families living around Paruku (Lake Gregory).

The central focus of my art practice is a personal reflection about family, Country, community, oral histories, survival, and traditional lifestyles (traditional foods, medicines). The diverse countryside, waterways, and sand hills are depicted through the use of bright colours, and varying shades of purple, blue, greens, yellows and reds. My works are contemporary, and sometimes include the use of traditional symbols and traditional ochres. I often use other mediums as an extension of my art practice, including inks on fabrics, and natural bush materials, such as seeds, pandanus leaves, and grasses to make baskets."

Over the last few years Susan has been working with hessian and ochre (moving away from canvas). Exhibiting with Umbrella Studio Contemporary Arts in the Cairns Indigenous Art Fair (CIAF)in 2021, Susan won the CIAF Award for Innovation for this new development in her practice.