"My middle name, Anamara, is an Arrernte word, a Dreaming, and the name of a river that runs north of Alice Springs [Mparntwe]. I love having a [First Nations] language word as part of my name and there are beautiful allusions to water, that precious, life-giving force, something that's cyclical and regenerative.
Alice Springs is somewhere that I've been going to since I was a kid and I have a strong connection to that place. I've always felt a pull to go there; it's somewhere I can restore and recharge my energies. It has to be seen to be believed. When people think of the desert they think of sand dunes but Alice Springs has this extraordinary lushness and diversity to it - it's an endless well of inspiration. The light and colours are burned into my memory.
I'm very interested in the technical side of painting and colour theory. It's fascinating to me to try and achieve the radiance from the brilliant light that's particular to the Alice. Even in the shadows, the light has this interplay with skin - it's very reflective and a central concept in my portraits.
Being Australian underpins everything I do because I am of this place. Especially being a First Nations person, there's an understanding that you belong to Country, you're a part of it. It's a visceral kind of understanding. Alice Springs is important to me in that respect but growing up in Sydney has also had a formative effect on me. We draw from our context and that becomes an inherent part of your creative practice."
