Belinda Golder Kngwarreye / Awelye – Women’s Ceremony (BG296)

Belinda Golder Kngwarreye was born in Alice Springs in 1988 and grew up at Boundary Bore, one of the homelands of the Utopia region of Central Australia. An Alyawarre woman, Belinda’s traditional Country is Alhalkere, north-east of Alice Springs. She is the daughter of Margaret Golder and the late Sammy Petyarre.

Belinda comes from a family with a strong artistic tradition. Her grandmother was the highly regarded Utopia artist Polly Ngale, and her sister is well-known artist Janet Golder Kngwarreye. She grew up surrounded by artists and began painting in her twenties under the direct guidance of her grandmother, while also learning painting techniques from Janet.

Two important themes within Belinda’s practice are Anwekety, or Bush Plum Dreaming, and Awelye, or Women’s Ceremony.

Belinda inherited the Bush Plum Dreaming through her grandmother Polly Ngale, who, together with her sisters Kathleen Ngale and Angelina Ngale, held deep cultural knowledge of this important story. Bush Plum is an important bush food found throughout the Utopia region and is closely connected with knowledge of Country, seasonal change and ceremony. Belinda’s Bush Plum paintings are characterised by dense layers of dotting and colour, suggesting the fruit, flowers, seeds and foliage of the plant as it moves through different stages of growth and ripening.

Belinda also paints Awelye, or Women’s Ceremony, connected with her ancestral Country of Alhalkere. Awelye encompasses song, dance, body painting, ceremonial designs and the passing of cultural knowledge between generations. In these works, intricate patterns, layered dotting and organic forms evoke the plants, bush foods, water and features of Country that form part of women’s cultural knowledge and responsibilities.

Across both bodies of work, Belinda brings together inherited stories with her own distinctive contemporary style. Her paintings are richly layered and highly detailed, often creating a shimmering sense of movement across the canvas. Through her work she continues knowledge passed through generations of women in her family while developing an increasingly recognisable visual language of her own.

Belinda has exhibited throughout Australia and internationally. In 2024 her work was included in Desert Gestures at The Anzai Gallery in Tokyo, Japan, an exhibition bringing together eleven Aboriginal artists from Australia. Her work continues to feature in exhibitions celebrating both the established traditions and new generations of artists from Utopia.

Belinda lives between Boundary Bore, Gillen Bore and Alice Springs with her husband and children and continues to paint the stories of her family and Country.

SELECTED EXHIBITIONS

• 2026 Winter 2026, Everywhen Art, Shoreham VIC
• 2026 Past | Present | Future, Everywhen Art, Shoreham VIC
• 2025 Awelye: The Legacy of Utopia, Everywhen Art, Shoreham VIC
• 2025 Pareip 2025, Everywhen Art, Shoreham VIC
• 2025 ReGeneration: Innovation within Tradition, Frankston Arts Centre / Everywhen Art, Frankston VIC
• 2025 Women Celebrating Women, Everywhen Art, Shoreham VIC
• 2024 Desert Gestures, The Anzai Gallery, Tokyo, Japan
• 2024 H O M E, Everywhen Art at Whistlewood, Shoreham VIC
• 2023 Synergy 2023, Everywhen Art, VIC
• 2023 The Summer Show 2023 | Grand Design, Everywhen Art, Shoreham VIC
• 2022 Synergy 2022: First Nations Artists from Around Australia, Everywhen Art, Shoreham VIC
• 2021 Sounds of Summer 2, Japingka Gallery, Fremantle WA
• 2021 Synergy: Art from the Heartlands of Aboriginal Australia, Everywhen Art, Shoreham VIC