Kathy Ramsay / Garrganny (Water Lily) Place (19714)

A third-generation Gija artist, Kathy Ramsay was born in 1965 at Bow River Station in the East Kimberley, Western Australia. She carries forward the proud legacy of her renowned artistic family — the eldest daughter of the late senior Gija artist Rammey Ramsey (c.1935–2021) and Mona Ramsay (1938–2024), and granddaughter of senior lawman Timmy Timms. Kathy’s deep connection to Country and culture is reflected in every aspect of her work.

Although she only began painting in 2013, Kathy’s artistic development has been remarkable. Her paintings have been exhibited in numerous group shows and are held in both Australian and international collections. In 2015 she was selected for Revealed, the biennial exhibition celebrating emerging Aboriginal artists in Western Australia. Two years later she was named a finalist in the John Fries Art Award, followed by another finalist placing in the Port Hedland Art Award in 2018 for her work depicting Juwulinji (Bow River), one of her key ancestral sites.

Kathy paints in two distinctive styles. The first draws inspiration from her father’s Warlawoon Country, located between Bedford Downs and Table Downs Stations, featuring symbolic and linear compositions that honour his artistic influence. The second showcases her own landscape depictions of Bow River Station, capturing the rich colours and sweeping forms of her ancestral home. Like her father, Kathy works with both acrylic paints and natural ochre earth pigments, creating a unique blend of traditional and contemporary practice that connects her deeply to Country.

Her paintings tell the stories passed down through generations — stories of the land, the Ngarranggarni (Dreaming), and the cultural identity of her people. For Kathy, painting is both a creative expression and a way to preserve and share the knowledge of her family and ancestors with future generations.

A mother of seven – four daughters and three sons, Kathy has always maintained strong ties to family and community. While raising her children in Warmun, she worked in childcare and cleaning before becoming a full-time artist.

Kathy’s mother, Mona Ramsay, was also a respected Gija painter and the eldest daughter of Timmy Timms. Born at Old Greenvale Station in 1938 (Adavale and Greenvale Stations were combined to form Bow River Station), Mona grew up working alongside her family at Bow River. The Bow River pastoral lease was handed back to the Timms family by the government, with Timmy appointed as Chairperson. After his passing, Mona took over that role, continuing to manage the station while developing her own artistic practice. She began painting in 1996, creating flowing landscape works inspired by the Ngarranggarni stories and her close family connection to the renowned artist Paddy Bedford — considered Kathy’s grandfather in ‘Aboriginal way’ (Paddy was the full brother of Liddy Timms, wife of Timmy). Today, Kathy and her family continue to run Bow River Station, maintaining the deep connection between their family, their art, and their ancestral Country.

Through her own work, Kathy continues this extraordinary family tradition — celebrating the stories, spirit, and landscape of the East Kimberley. Her paintings stand as a tribute to the generations before her and as a vibrant continuation of her family’s enduring cultural legacy.

Selected Solo Exhibitions

• 2024 Kathy Ramsay, Black Stump Gallery, Broome
• 2021 Ngaboo-lang: Collaborative works by Rammey Ramsey and Kathy Ramsay – Koskela, Sydney

Selected Group Exhibitions

• 2025 The Living Healing Water of Gija Country, Black Stump Gallery, Broome
• 2024 Home, Everywhen Art, Mornington Peninsula
• 2022 Ngamu & Kilyingem: Old & New – Artworks from Gija Women – Short St Gallery, Broome
• 2022 Ochre & Bark, Tim Melville Gallery, Auckland, New Zealand
• 2021 Tarnanthi, Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide
• 2021 Auckland Art Fair – Tim Melville Booth, Auckland, New Zealand
• 2021 Of the Land, Kate Owen Gallery, Sydney
• 2020 This Is Tomorrow – Tim Melville Gallery, Auckland, New Zealand
• 2020 Whenua Ukaipo/United Nations 75 – Public Trust Hall, Te Whanganui-a-tara, Wellington
• 2020 Warlawoon, Paul Johnstone Gallery, Darwin
• 2020 Juwurlinji – Kristin Hjellegjerde, London
• 2020 Wigim – Aboriginal Contemporary, Sydney
• 2020 Warmun Artists – The Ochre Story, Japingka Gallery, Perth
• 2020 Badem Mawoondool – red ochre, white ochre – Aboriginal Contemporary, Sydney
• 2020 Summer Salon – Artitja Fine Art Gallery, Fremantle
• 2019 Warmun Artists / Whenua – Tim Melville Gallery, Auckland, New Zealand
• 2019 Salon des Refuses, Telstra NATSIAA, Charles Darwin University Art Gallery, Darwin
• 2019 Our Land Our Place, NAIDOC Week exhibition by Artitja Fine Art, Government House, Perth
• 2019 Bow River Country – Aboriginal Contemporary, Sydney NSW
• 2019 Desert River Sea, Art Gallery of Western Australia, Perth
• 2019 Darwin Aboriginal Art Fair, Darwin
• 2019 Connection to Country, Form Gallery, Perth
• 2018 Warmun at Twenty, Nancy Sever Gallery, Canberra
• 2018 Kimberley to Coast Exhibition, Salt Contemporary Art, McCulloch & McCulloch, Queenscliff, VIC
• 2018 GIJA Exhibition, Woolloongabba Art Gallery, Brisbane
• 2018 Hedland Art Award, Courthouse Gallery, Port Hedland WA
• 2017 When the Sky Fell: Legacies of the 1967 Referendum, Perth Institute of Contemporary Art, Perth
• 2017 Transitions, Short Street Gallery, Broome
• 2017 Spiritual essence of the Earth with Warmun artists – Aboriginal Signature Estrangin Gallery, Brussels
• 2017 For the Women, Tandanya, Adelaide
• 2017 Constellation, Paul Johnstone Gallery, Darwin
• 2017 Art of the Gija People, Nancy Server Gallery, Canberra
• 2017 Hedland Art Award, Port Hedland Courthouse Gallery, Port Headland, WA
• 2016 Warlbowinj and Jumulunj (River Wallaby and Boab Tree), Paul Johnstone Gallery, Darwin
• 2015 Warmun Then and Now, The University of Western Australia, Perth
• 2014 Warmun: Gija Contemporary Art of Western Australia, Harvey Art Projects, USA
• 2014 Warmun Aboriginal Art, Art Images Gallery, Adelaide
• 2014 Transitions, Short Street Gallery, Broome

Achievements

• 2017 Port Hedland Art Award – Finalist
• 2017 John Fries Award, Sydney – Finalist
• 2015 Selected for REVEALED, Fremantle Arts Centre, WA

Selected Collections

• Art Gallery of NSW, Sydney
• Artbank, Sydney
• Art Gallery of Western Australia, Perth

This artwork depicts Djrringy, on Greenvale Station — Country that belonged to Kathy’s mother, Mona Ramsay. Greenvale and the neighbouring Adavale Station were later combined to form Bow River Station, but this place remains an important part of Mona’s Country.

Kathy explains that this area is known as Garrganny, the water lily place. When her mother was a little girl, she would go out with the old women to dig for water lily. The small forms painted at the base of the artwork represent the digging holes where the women searched beneath the lilies for the bush potato – an important and much-loved traditional food found deep in the roots.

The large central stone is a Ngarrankarni (Dreaming) stone, a powerful feature of this Country. The old women would speak to the stone, telling it what they needed and asking for guidance and support. Kathy notes that this stone is still there today, standing on her mother’s Country and remaining a place of cultural significance for her family.

In painting Garrganny, Kathy honours the memories of her mother and the old women, and celebrates the knowledge, food, and stories carried through this special place on their Country.