Digging for Yams by Faye Parriman
Aboriginal Bush Traders

Digging for Yams by Faye Parriman

Regular price $3,750.00
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  • Artist: Faye Parriman
  • Title: Digging for Yams
  • Size: 88cm x 64cm
  • Medium: Acrylic on Canvas
  • Region: Mullewa, WA

Yam Story

As a young girl I grew up in a Mission and on the weekend when the yams were in season.

Many of us girls would go to gather bush tuckers in the bushes nearby.

We found a small plant and started digging. We sat around the plant with our digging sticks and dug deep into the soft soil and pulled out many jams. We laughed and yarned about happy times.

The yams are long and sweet some are big like a cucumber others are smaller.

I loved going out gathering bush tuckers which we regularly  did.

Dr Faye Parriman

Dr Faye Parriman is a proud Yamatji and Noongar woman, artist, educator, researcher and community advocate whose work reflects a lifetime of cultural knowledge, storytelling and service to Aboriginal families and communities. Through painting, education and cultural leadership, Faye’s practice speaks of resilience, survival, identity and enduring connection to Country.

Her artworks draw from memories of growing up in the desert and wildflower Country of Western Australia, as well as her lived experiences as a member of the Stolen Generations after being removed from family and taken to Tardun Mission. Through rich colour, symbolism and layered storytelling, Faye’s paintings communicate both the hardship and strength carried through generations while honouring the ongoing connection Aboriginal people maintain with Country, culture and family.

Alongside her artistic practice, Faye has dedicated more than three decades to Aboriginal family support, parenting research, community education and culturally responsive practice across remote and urban communities throughout the Northern Territory. In recognition of her significant contribution to education, Indigenous advocacy and community leadership, Charles Darwin University awarded Faye an Honorary Doctor of Letters in 2025.

 

A major part of her legacy is Faye Parriman’s Minga Yarning Mat, a culturally safe engagement tool designed to support Aboriginal families through visual storytelling and yarning practices. Used by family support workers, educators, counsellors, child protection practitioners and Aboriginal community-controlled organisations such as CONGRESS in Mparntwe (Alice Springs), the Yarning Mat creates safer and more respectful conversations by helping families map relationships, strengths, worries, supports and external pressures in culturally meaningful ways.

Faye’s artistic and cultural influence extends strongly through her family. She is the mother of contemporary Aboriginal artist Natasha Lloyd and grandmother to artists Celina Lloyd, Leticia Lloyd and Jessica Lloyd. Together, they continue an evolving intergenerational artistic practice grounded in storytelling, cultural continuity and shared experiences on both desert wildflower and saltwater Country.

Her family’s artistic practice is also deeply connected to her husband Kevin Parriman, a respected Jabirr Jabirr/Ngumbarl and Yawuru cultural educator, storyteller and carver from the West Kimberley. Together, their teachings, stories and cultural knowledge continue to inspire younger generations and shape the family’s creative practice.

In Beyond Everlastings, Faye’s works form an important foundation for the exhibition’s exploration of intergenerational memory, Country and cultural survival. Her paintings, alongside the collaborative family work Ugudungu, honour the strength of storytelling carried through generations and the enduring cultural knowledge that continues to guide family, community and future generations.



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