Bessie Nakamarra Sims

Bessie Nakamarra Sims was born around 1932 in the Australian bush (Yanami Desert) in a small Aboriginal community where she spent her youth and lives according to a traditional way of life. She did not come into contact with the white man until 1950 when she went to work at the Mt Doreen station, west of Yuendumu.

She began painting in the early 1980s in collaboration with the women painters of the Yuendumu Art Center and has been exhibited continuously in Australia and across the world since then with over 150 solo and group exhibitions in Australia. , New Zealand, USA, United Kingdom, Scotland, Germany, France, Holland, Korea, China, etc ...

Although she left us in 2012, Bessie remains one of the most esteemed artists of the artistic community of Warlukurlangu where she was indeed particularly committed to having Aboriginal culture recognized and legitimized throughout the world.

The main dreams of Bessie Nakamarra Sims are Ngarlajiyi (the little yam), Janganpu (the Possum), Pamapardu (the flying ant), Karntajarra (the two women), Yarla (the Bush potato) and Mukaki (the Bush plum) . She spoke by saying that the act of painting connected her to the Dreams passed down to her by her father and grandfather. She has always shown her desire to share her knowledge, to pass it on to her children: "I want everyone, all over the world, to know my dreams. I have learned them and they (her children) can discover them to theirs. tower".

His works are present in many collections:

Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney / Art Gallery of Western Australia, Perth / Australian Museum, Sydney / Flinders University Collection, Melbourne / Gordon Darling Foundation, Canberra / Museums & Art Galleries of the Northern Territory / National Gallery of Australia, Canberra / South Australian Museum, Adelaide / Aboriginal Art Museum, Utrecht / Art Gallery and Museum, Kelvingrove, Glasgow, Scotland / Donald Kahn Collection, USA / Shell, USA / Newmont Mining, USA / Kluge Ruhe collection, Charlottesville, USA / Museum of Cultural History , Oslo, Norway / Private collections