Minnie Lumai Australian, Miriwoong, b. 1941

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."