Rita Kemarr Beasley

Rita Kemarr Beasley is an Alyawarr artist from the tiny community of Wutunugurra (Epenarra). Known for her energetic and expressive style Rita creates loose and evocative depictions of Country using large blocks of colour in a palette inspired by her Country. She builds layers and layers of paint when she works, dotting laboriously over a section of canvas only to paint over it again in a new colour. While sometimes her paintings are finished with her first few strokes, more often Rita’s intuitive process means her paintings can go through many evolutions, forming and re-forming, until the work reaches a state of completion she is satisfied with. Watching her paint, a viewer will see many apparently promising paintings appear and then be covered over, the final product often being entirely different from where she first began. The topography of thick marks and ridges of paint on the finished canvas is the only remaining evidence of the hidden paintings underneath.

Rita’s work frequently depicts sturdy trees whose thick white trunks stand starkly against her richly coloured backgrounds. These bright eucalypts flourish in the landscape surrounding Wutunugurra and feature in varied forms in the works of many of the Epenarra artists.

Rita began painting infrequently in the early 2000s, when outreach programs first brought art workshops to Wutunugurra community. In 2012, Barkly Regional Arts established a consistent presence in the community, giving Rita more consistent access to materials. Rita has had a vision impairment in one eye since birth, and at first painted under the guidance of her sisters Jessie and Topsy Beasley. Her natural fluency with materials and colours has continued to develop into a confident and entirely individual approach to painting.

Rita was born in the bush around Wutunugurra circa 1951, and has lived in the community her entire life. She never married or had children, but she is surrounded by family of all ages. Spending time with family, sitting and talking and sharing stories, and attending church are her favourite ways to spend her time outside of painting at the art centre.