I Am Woman touches on just a few aspects of the feminine within us, in an exhibition at Glenelg Art Gallery as part of Adelaide Fringe.
With passion, dreams, strengths, vulnerabilities, love, self doubt, wellness and sadness, always striving to make life better and at times falling – however always getting up again, thinking outside the box and wearing many hats. Most times, women push aside their dreams to make life better for others.
Rhubee Neale, musician, artist, and proud Anmatyerre/Arrernte woman, presents her art work for Adelaide Fringe at Glenelg Art Gallery under the title I Am Woman. Rhubee describes her beginning with art, and where it has led her.
“I learned to paint by observation, it was first-hand instruction; learning styles from family at first then I began to make up my own little stories using my imagination of the world around me,” Rhubee says.
“Families painted their old stories; that could be funny, scary, and serious about survival, rules of behaviour, and kinship relationships with people, animals, and everything around us – life skills and protocols. I cannot remember what age when I started drawing in the sand, as it has always been a part of me. All I can remember is that I felt loved, safe and warm laying in my mother’s (mum and her sisters’) lap as they drew and told stories in the sand. I can still hear their voices and smell the aroma of the gum tree and red desert soil.”
As with any new skill or passion, the beholder evolves and develops over time. This can be said for Rhubee too.
“My style has evolved over the years, firstly my dreaming dot style – I sold my first one in 1999, then in the 2000s, I started painting fictional land spaces that I called my paradise places,” she says.
“The hero of these paintings was based on childhood memories combined with imagination such as my favourite gum trees, ranges, dry and running creeks and riverbeds. And now I am embarking on a contemporary art journey.”
In the featured art of I Am Woman, the phoenix represents dreams and passion, the snake represents self doubt. The blue bird represents depression, and the eye is society always offering criticism about the way a woman acts, lives, what she wears and how she looks. The woman in the green dress has found confidence to be herself. The flowers represent hope and happiness.
I Am Woman is on at Glenelg Art Gallery (Adelaide Fringe) 17 February-19 March.
