Alison Williams
Alison Williams is a proud Gumbaynggirr woman who has loved painting and drawing from a young age. Born in Sydney in 1968, Alison grew up around Wollongong, but always harbored a feeling of belonging to her mother’s country in the northern lowlands of the Gumbaynggirr. This feeling brought her to the birth place of her grandmother at Corindi Beach, where she established a studio to continue her artistic development.
For Alison, art has always been a form of expressing her personal impressions, dreams and experiences. She says that ‘Visual storytelling is a deeply held tradition of Aboriginal artists, and is tremendously important, both as a way of preserving our cultural heritage, and also as a medium to bridge cultural differences in a non-confronting way, allowing non-Aboriginal people to explore Indigenous culture in a positive contemporary context.’
Throughout her career, Alison has been a spokesperson for the cultural heritage of Australian Indigenous persons, and has been provided leadership in the community through the education and communication of culture including dance, sculpture and painting.
Alison has exhibited extensively throughout Australia and NSW. In 2007, three of her pieces were selected for the NSW Parliament Indigenous Art Prize; in 2011 she was awarded the Clarence Valley Indigenous Art Award and in 2008 she was awarded the NSW Indigenous Art Fellowship from the Ministry for the Arts and Sydney City Council, which saw her work exhibited throughout Canada and USA.
Alison’s artwork can be viewed and purchased on her website at: www.indigenousinteriors.com.au.
Images courtesy of Alison Williams and the Dunghutti-Ngaku Aboriginal (DNAAG) Art Gallery.
