I am originally from Barrow Creek and I’m married to Ricky Holmes a traditional owner of Ampilatwatja. I began painting at the Artists of Ampilatwatja in 2010.  When I was younger I would often stay with an Aunty in Alice Springs who was a well established artist there and as a teenager I would help her to paint her paintings. I also has a couple of Aunties in Utopia who were part of the Utopian Batik movement and I would watch them do batik as a child. 

I draw a lot of inspiration from my homeland and my childhood memories of Barrow Creek and the country surrounding there. My paintings are often  reminiscing of hunting and camping trips, climbing the hills to get brilliant views and walking my land with my family. I like to paint my homeland, at Barrow Creek, because it as a way of connecting to and remembering my home. 

Kathleen’s dot work is exquisitely fine and she uses this technique to make patterns within the landscapes of her paintings demonstrating her peaceful, patient disposition and a deep love and connection to her country. The work produced by Kathleen is recognisably distinct, due to the application of her fine patterned dots and the often bright and lively figurative depiction of the landscape.

Kathleen tells of how she is inspired by landscapes, the ways the sky changes and how the light changes the colours of the land and the rocks. 

A veritable source of life, the land has provided and sustained Kayetetye people for generations, as every plant and animal has avital role to play within the ecological system; this profound understanding is interpreted in all Kathleen’s paintings.

Courtesy of Artists of Ampilatwatja

‍