In Her Own Words - Renae Nakamarra Nelson
Renae Nakamarra Nelson is one of the most exciting young painters to emerge from the APY Lands in recent years. Born in 1994, she comes from Kaltiji and Watinuma Homeland near the Western Australian border in South Australia - Pitjantjatjara country. She began painting as a solo artist in 2024, but the education behind her work runs much deeper than that. Jed Farquhar sat down with Renae at our Adelaide gallery to hear her story in her own words.
On growing up around painting
Renae grew up between the APY Lands and her homeland, watching two of the most significant figures in Australian Aboriginal art at work. Her grandfather is the late Michael Jagamara Nelson AM - winner of the inaugural National Aboriginal Art Award in 1984, designer of the Parliament House forecourt mosaic in Canberra, and one of the most important painters of the Western Desert art movement. His work hangs in the Sydney Opera House, his mosaic paves the forecourt of Parliament House, and his design appears on the Australian five-dollar note.
"I would sit back and watch how he would mix in colours. Before painting, he would mix in - and my grandmother would help him as well."
Renae did not just watch from a distance. She practised on small canvases, absorbing the rhythms of colour, composition and story that surrounded her. She was not formally taught so much as immersed - the way knowledge has always moved in these families, through presence and observation rather than instruction.
On the story she paints
The Mamungari story Renae paints comes from her grandmother's line - her mother's mother's story. It is a Pitjantjatjara women's story, rooted in country between Fregon (Kaltjiti) and Watarru in the APY Lands - deep in the Great Victoria Desert near the Western Australian border.
"It's about a special woman's place. That's all I can say."
The story carries restricted knowledge - it belongs to the women of Renae's family and cannot be fully shared. What can be seen is its presence in the work itself - the density, the movement, the sense of something ancient and alive held within each canvas.
On her use of colour
Renae's paintings are immediately distinctive - single colour fields of extraordinary depth and vibrancy, a bold approach that sets her apart from almost every other painter working in the APY Lands today.
"I choose to make them brighter, so they can attract the eyes. So they can see the movement."
She paints in reds, blues and pinks - dense, vibrant, uncompromising. She is particular about what she avoids - yellow rarely makes it onto her canvas, and white even less so. Her instinct is always toward depth and saturation.
"I don't like yellows or whites. I like real dense colours."
She also paints with the viewer's experience in mind - stepping back, shifting angles, watching how the colour and movement change as the perspective changes.
On what painting means to her
Renae began painting as a solo artist in 2024. In less than two years she has developed a voice that is entirely her own - distinct from her grandfather's style, distinct from other APY painters, distinct from anyone.
"Once I get into the painting, I really focus on doing it correctly."
When asked how it feels to have her paintings in a gallery, and in people's homes, her answer is immediate.
"It makes me feel proud. It makes me want to keep going on painting."
And when asked about her aspirations for the future, she is quietly certain.
"I just love painting. It's like meditation. It takes off my mind."
About Renae Nakamarra Nelson
Renae Nakamarra Nelson was born in 1994 and comes from Kaltiji and Watinuma Homeland in the APY Lands, South Australia. She speaks three languages - Luritja, Warlpiri and Pitjantjatjara. She is the granddaughter of the late Michael Jagamara Nelson AM, one of the most significant figures in the history of Australian art. Growing up between the APY Lands and her homeland, Renae learned to paint through years of observation alongside her grandfather and grandmother before beginning her solo practice in 2024. She paints the Mamungari - a women's Dreaming story passed down through her grandmother's line - in single colour fields of striking depth and vibrancy. Her work is held in private collections in Australia.
Art by Farquhar is a member of the Australian Aboriginal Art Association. Every painting comes with a Certificate of Authenticity and full provenance documentation.
Interviewed by Jed Farquhar, March 2026.