Sarah Brown AM, renowned CEO of Purple House and celebrated Mparntwe (Alice Springs) artist, brings the energy and sparkle of Central Australia in her first solo show in Melbourne.

Sarah Brown’s landscape paintings express the love of country that she has dedicated her life to. The dramatic desert skies, rich shades of red earth and pop of spinifex is meticulously rendered in vivid colour.

Painting is a distraction for Sarah, a balm, done after hours and weekends after a busy working day. She has invested three decades of her life to remote area nursing and community-led healthcare for Indigenous Australians. Her advocacy for Purple House the Indigenous-owned dialysis service is famous and has been awarded an Order of Australia.

Northern Territory advocate and artist Chips Mackinolty acclaims “In between kids and kidneys, she is also a great painter”. WAITING FOR STEVIE is art as part of a big life, painted while a grandchild is about to be born.

Sarah Brown has been painting for over two decades, she has held 15 solo shows including in Alice Springs, Darwin, Canberra, Sydney and Singapore and participated in many group exhibitions throughout Australia.

“It was a long hot summer. Rain had turned bush tracks into inland rivers making the logistics of keeping remote dialysis clinics open and stocked even trickier than usual. Lots of work recruiting nurses and caring for people away from their families for Christmas. The kids came home and the house was full.

My studio is in the middle of my house, in the middle of Mparntwe  (Alice Springs) in the middle of Australia. It’s a funny old joint. Plenty of books and plants and cobwebs, old cars waiting to be repaired, projects for the future. On Sunday arvos my daughter visits with her 2 year old Darby. Darby comes and finds her apron (there’s always bubble mixture and a little elephant waiting in the pocket for her). She either brushes imaginary paint on the pictures I am working on, or gets out her box of paints and colours. We add our painty hand prints to the fridge and the walls. This summer Darby has also been waiting for her sister to be born. We all have. She finally made an appearance in the middle of March. Stevie Rose.

This show has been painted over the last few months through all of this. An added pressure, an added distraction. They are paintings of well loved places, favourite trees, places to stop for a wee on a long day of driving to remote communities. Some of these places I have been visiting for over 30 years!

There was not so much new travel during this time… a mixture of weather events and waiting for Stevie kept me close to home.

My bosses, Pintupi people from the Western Desert see their country through the lens of Tjukurrpa, water and food sources. Their paintings are stories, maps through time and space. It is an honour to be invited to learn just a little and to be comfortable in the not knowing.

I have had lots of solo shows before, in Alice, Darwin, Canberra, Singapore and Sydney, but this is my first show in Melbourne. So THANK YOU for having me. I don’t know your town very well, I don’t know if you will be able to relate to these paintings, but I am happy to be here!”

Sarah Brown, May 2024

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