Sold
Namarrali and Dumbi
2021
Acrylic on canvas
Shontae Charles
Art centre
Born
Mowanjum Community, Derby
Lives and works
Mowanjum Community
Shontae is a proud young Woddordda and Nyikina woman. Shontae was raised by her grandfather, senior Elder and lawman Yorna Donny Woolagoodja and Mildred Mungulu, who are both renowned artists. “I first started painting animals on boab nuts when I was a young girl,” Shontae says. Her main themes are the Wandjina, Dumbi (sacred owl) and Gyorn Gyorn. Shontae juggles painting, working at the Mowanjum Art and Culture Centre as an arts worker and raising her one–year–old daughter, Lena. “Mostly I like to paint on Country like at Yaloon, it relaxes me and connects me to my culture.”