SPOTLIGHT ON LOCAL ABORIGINAL ARTIST, 'THE WHALE LADY'

The WHALE LADY

Central Coast Aboriginal elder Aunty Lila, a talented storyteller and artist, tells us what inspires her remarkable paintings.

WORDS JACQUELINE O’NEILL PHOTOGRAPHY CLAIRE @ OAK STREET IMAGES

An avid storyteller, artist and songwriter, Aunty Lila Kirby (known affectionately by all as ‘Aunty’) is a Central Coast local Aboriginal elder. A descendent of the Waradjiri and Yorta Yorta tribes, from Central NSW and the Murray and Goulburn River regions respectively, Aunty has been painting for about 30 years in a style that fuses traditional and contemporary techniques. She uses acrylic paints, paintbrushes and her hands. Every one of Aunty’s paintings tells a unique story. These stories come to her from the ancestors of her land and the journeys that she has taken – whether through her travels across Australia and extensive time spent in Arnhem Land, where she lived for 12 years, or from her various trips overseas. Aunty insists, though, that these stories aren’t hers. “The spirits visit me, and they take me on the most incredible journeys as I paint,” she says. “Sometimes, it’s a long and complex story, like a dream. Other times, it’s simply a moment in time where I’m lucky enough to be a guest – like a fly on the wall. I paint what I observe. These moments are at ceremonies, gatherings of women and tribes, all sorts of occasions – but always a long time in the past. And there’s always an insistence from the spirits that I get it right.” Throughout her life, Aunty has travelled to the USA, Hawaii and Fiji, and attended gatherings with other cultural leaders to share her engaging stories and complex knowledge of the land. Along the Sydney coastal line, she is known by other Aboriginal people as ‘The Whale Lady’ – fittingly, her whale stories and paintings are her favourites. Aunty’s artworks have made their way to all corners of the globe, including America, Japan and India, and hang in the home of actor Chris Hemsworth and his wife, actress Elsa Pataky. Her style is distinctive and mesmerising, as is her personality – you can tell that she possesses a deep wisdom from the moment you meet her. At the heart of her work, she believes that all Australian people could learn a lot from Indigenous customs, traditions and ways of life. “Everything we need is on this land. Medicine, food, shelter. That’s the first thing. The second is that this must be respected – tamper too much with the plants, the animals, the earth – and you’ll set it all off balance. Some of the modern ways are no good,” she says. And the third thing? She laughs and winks. “The third thing is us women – we are like royalty in our culture, and rightly so. We carry everything.” For enquiries about Aunty Lila’s paintings, please contact Sarah Tammer, email sarahktammer@gmail.com, phone 0404 086 524.