Kathy Ramsay (b. 1965) is an artist at Warmun Art Centre in Western Australia. Established in 1998, the centre is owned and governed by Gija people, and supports the preservation of Gija art, language and culture. Kathy only began painting in 2013 but has already been included in numerous group exhibitions and private collections across Australia and internationally. Following in the footsteps of her father, the well-known Gija artist Rammey Ramsey, Kathy is known for her use of bright acrylics, which she blends with natural ochre pigments, updating the traditional East Kimberley aesthetic. Her Country’s landscape and heritage serve as the subject of many of her works, incorporating rich ‘Ngarranggarni’ (dreamtime) stories with recent histories of station life.
Group exhibitions include The Ochre Story, Japingka Aboriginal Art, WA (2020), Badem Mawoondool, Aboriginal Contemporary, Sydney (2020), Summer Salon, Artitja Fine Art Gallery, WA (2020),Connection to Country fundraiser exhibition, Form Gallery, Perth, WA (2019), Warmun Artists/ Whenua, Tim Melville Gallery, Auckland, New Zealand (2019), SALON des Refuses, Charles Darwin University Art Gallery (2019), Our Land Our Place, NAIDOC WEEK exhibition by Artitja Fine Art, Government House, Perth WA (2019), Bow River Country, Aboriginal Contemporary, Sydney (2019).
Tracey Ramsay (b. 1972) was born in Wyndham, Western Australia in 1972, but grew up in Juwulinji, her ancestral country, otherwise known as Bow River Country. She began painting in her forties following in the footsteps of her artist parents Rammey and Mona Ramsay, and her sister Kathy Ramsay, and is a member of the Warmun Art Centre. She paints the landscape of the Country she lives in and the dream stories passed down to her from her parents and the wider Gija community, carefully crafting neat graphical compositions that mix together ochre, acrylic and other natural pigments.
Group exhibitions include Badem Mawoondool, Aboriginal Contemporary, Sydney (2020), Our Land Our Place, NAIDOC WEEK exhibition by Artitja Fine Art, Government House, Perth WA (2019), Bow River Country, Aboriginal Contemporary, Sydney (2019); Revealed, Fremantle Art Centre (2019); Midwest Art Prize Finalist 2019, Geraldton Regional Art Gallery (2019); Kimberley Retreat Homestead, Warmun Community, Western Australia (2018).
Highlights and Collections
In 2017, Kathy was a finalist in the John Fries Art Award, and in 2018, she was a finalist in the regional Hedland Art Award for her prominent painting depicting an in-depth story about Juwulinji, her ancestral country which is also known as Bow River Country. In 2015, Kathy Ramsay was selected for Revealed, a biennial art event celebrating emerging Aboriginal artists in Western Australia. Tracey was a finalist in the Midwest Art Prize in 2019 and was included in the Revealed Emerging Artist exhibition in the same year.