Grace Kemarre Robinya

Grace Robinya was born and raised in Ntaria (Hermannsburg), her father was a Robinja with links to a series of sites along the Finke River, and her mother was an Ungkwanaka from Running Waters (Irbmangkara). Robinya has fond recollections of sewing and playing sport at the Lutheran Mission of Hermannsburg. At a young age Grace eloped with her husband, and says never looked back! She married and travelled to Coniston Station with her husband. There she had her children, surrounded by cousins and elders in the then thriving Aboriginal camp located near the then operating station. Her children claim as their father’s Country, Patty’s Well, on Napperby Station.

Grace Robinya’s non-figurative paintings have always been highly considered and labour intensive, and generally distinguished by very neat multi-layered dot work. However, since 2015, Robinya’s practice has focussed on figurative paintings, often near-miniatures, detail important locations and events in her life: her childhood at Hermannsburg Mission and surrounding Ntaria region, or visits to her beloved Irbmangkara. She also records details of station life at Coniston and Napperby Stations, where she and her husband worked as a domestic, and ringer respectively, while raising their family.

A frequent return visitor to Laramba Aboriginal Community now established on Napperby Station, Grace Robinya also documents exciting football and softball carnivals in which her grandsons and granddaughters feature, playing for the winning Anmatyerr teams. These and other works detail life in the remote Aboriginal communities in which she has lived throughout her life.

Grace enjoyed great success in 2019 including as a Finalist in the Works on Paper category in the Telstra NATSIA Award, and along with a small group of five fellow artists in Tarnanthi at Art Gallery South Australia. The popularity of her detailed works continues to rise. In 2020 she was a Highly Commended Finalist in the 41st Alice Prize.