PROFILE

Minnie Lumai is named after a freshwater spring that gently bubbles with the sound of her name - lu-mai, lu-mai, lu-mai. Her art demonstrates an energy that is at once energetic and serene. "In the early days I was a kid living at Newry Station. I looked after the goats and milked cows and I knew how to make the butter. After that I got married and went to Argyle Homestead. I worked there in the house. Old Sheeba taught me how to make bread and then I knew how to cook for the stock camp. We went to Lissadel. Next I came to Kununurra. I looked after my kids here. I didn't start painting until 2004. I had been watching all those people painting at the art centre - every morning I watched them and I asked my sister if I could come and paint. Now I come here and paint and I dance here too. My paintings are about the stories of my Country and culture - the way the land is from the dreaming and where we travel to hunt and fish."

 

Collections
CITY OF PERTH COLLECTION
EDITH COWAN UNIVERSITY COLLECTION
KLUGE RUHE ABORIGINALART COLLECTION VIRGINIA USA
WESFARMERS COLLECTION OF AUSTRALIAN ART, PERTH
WOLLONGONG UNIVERSITY COLLECTION
NATIONAL LIBRARY OF AUSTRALIA, CANBERRA
AUSTRALIAN HIGH COMMISSION, LONDON, UK