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My nanna always shows me how the stars tell us about the life of the emu. By Looking at the giant emu in the sky she can tell when it is mating season and when the male emus are sitting on the eggs. This story is during the cooler months (June/July) when the male emus are sitting on the eggs.
Nanna and nanna Edie were young girls and one afternoon they spotted a big emu nest while riding their bikes through the bush. Leaving their bikes they sneaked their way through the scrubs looking out for the male emu. With nanna Edie on lookout making sure the emu wasn't around nanna Faye slowly crawled to the nest, using her hands to feel for eggs. One at a time she reached for the eggs (she could only carry 2). She crawled back to nanna Edie rushing back to their bikes as it was now late in the afternoon. The family got worried for them as it was getting really dark and when they got back to their family, they got into big trouble.
Pop Jonathon is my nanna’s brother. When pop Jonathon lived with us (my mum, dad, my sisters and me) he also taught us about the giant emu in the sky. Pop Jonathon calls our mum his daughter and us girls are his grannies. Pop Jonathon is a Ngangkari, a desert healer and the giant emu in the sky is his totem. He gave us his story and taught us to paint all the different parts of the story, even how to paint the leaves of the giant tree and the spears.
When my great nanna, nanna lily, was pregnant she was eating emu with her family, and she became very sick. Soon after pop Jonathon was born and he was born with a large round birth mark on his shoulder, right where the spear had killed the emu. That is why nanna lily was sick and could not eat the emu and this is why the giant emu is pop Jonathon’s totem.
In the dreaming, a giant emu travelled through the country eating the people. To kill the giant emu a magic warrior made his special spears and he put on his head band and body paint. He left with his dingo and went looking for the giant emu. When he found where the emu was living, he hid in the only large tree that he could find and waited for the emu to walk past. The warrior killing the giant emu and the emus blood turned into a river before soaking into the ground and turning into gold. The giant emu’s body turned into the hills and mountains, and his spirit went up to the sky in the milky way, where we can still see him today.
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Nudagun is where we camp far way from the butterfly springs. When someone or something disturbs the springs, the butterflies fly past the paperbark trees all the way to Nudagun. When we see the butterflies lost at Nudagun, we know someone is coming.
Leticia Lloyd is a contemporary Aboriginal and digital artist whose work explores colour, pattern, emotion and the calming rhythms of ocean Country. Working across both traditional and digital mediums, her artistic practice reflects strong connections to family, culture and the intergenerational knowledge shared through both saltwater and desert wildflower Country.
A graduate of the Diploma of Arts at Charles Darwin University, Leticia combines contemporary Aboriginal art practices with digital illustration and design. Her work often incorporates flowing movement, layered colour palettes and intricate patterning inspired by the ocean, natural landscapes and moments spent on Country with family.
Leticia is also recognised internationally through her published colouring book Serenity Mandala Collection: Inspired by the Ocean, available through Amazon. The publication reflects her interest in mindfulness, creativity and the therapeutic qualities of art, drawing inspiration from ocean textures, marine life and the peaceful rhythms of saltwater environments.
Coming from a strong family lineage of artists and cultural educators, Leticia’s creative practice is deeply influenced by her grandmother, Faye Parriman, a respected Yamatji and Noongar artist, educator and Stolen Generations survivor, as well as her mother, Natasha Lloyd, an award-winning contemporary Aboriginal artist. Her artistic influences are also shaped by her grandfather Kevin Parriman, a respected Jabirr Jabirr/Ngumbarl and Yawuru cultural educator and storyteller from the West Kimberley whose teachings continue to inspire the family’s connection to saltwater Country.
Alongside her sisters Celina Lloyd and Jessica Lloyd, Leticia contributes to a growing intergenerational family art practice grounded in storytelling, cultural continuity and lived experiences on Country. Through time spent on both desert wildflower and saltwater Country, her work reflects ongoing learning, cultural connection and family memory.
In Beyond Everlastings, Leticia presents works that celebrate the strength of intergenerational knowledge and the enduring connections between land, sea and family. Her contemporary artistic practice honours the stories and cultural teachings passed through generations while bringing a fresh and evolving perspective to contemporary Aboriginal art.
Carnot Bay—known as Nudagun, meaning "place of fire"—is located on our Jabirr Jabirr country in the West Kimberley. Our family’s homeland at Carnot Bay is also called Nudagun.
The three circles represent a group of three springs on Jabirr Jabirr country. This is our family's homeland, where we maintain a deep, ongoing responsibility for both the stories and the country itself.
The Two Larger Springs: These are surrounded by mudflats and become completely encircled by water during high spring tides.
The Smaller Spring: This spring is hidden within the bushland, located close to the living area.
The springs at Nudagun are the home of the fire spirit ancestor, who was originally the sole keeper of fire.
Two spirit people from the north travelled toward Nudagun and saw the smoke of the flames. They hid quietly in the bush, waiting until the dead of night before creeping into the camp to steal the fire from its keeper.
Awoken by the noise, the fire spirit immediately gave chase. The two spirit people ran and ran, and as they fled, they created creeks and bays behind them in a desperate attempt to slow the fire spirit down. Today, these very creeks and bays form the traditional boundaries for the clans and language groups of the region.
When the spirit people were nearly home, they created one final bay that the fire spirit could not cross. Staying safely behind this last bay, the two spirit people secured their language's boundary—and forever brought fire to people.
The three circles represent the three springs with the top spring, known as the Butterfly Springs. At the end of the dry season when the weather starts to heat up the spring is filled with butterflies and if you stand quiet and still they will land on you. The outer red and black colour represents the fire and charcoal from the fire spirits fire.
Natasha Lloyd is a contemporary Aboriginal artist whose work reflects deep connections to both desert wildflower and saltwater Country, drawing on family stories, lived experiences and intergenerational cultural knowledge. Through vibrant colour, layered symbolism and storytelling, her paintings explore themes of identity, memory, Country and cultural continuity.
An established artist with exhibitions presented both locally and interstate, Natasha has developed a strong contemporary practice that moves across fine art, textiles and design. Her artworks have been reproduced for clothing, textiles and wall hangings, bringing contemporary Aboriginal art into fashion and interior design spaces while continuing to share stories of Country and culture through new mediums.
Natasha’s artistic achievements have been recognised through Top End NAIDOC honours as Artist of the Year, acknowledging her contribution to contemporary Indigenous art practice. She is also a recipient of the prestigious David Blanasi Acquisitive Art Award, recognising the strength and significance of her artistic work within the Northern Territory arts community.
As the daughter of Faye Parriman, a respected Yamatji and Noongar artist, educator and Stolen Generations survivor, Natasha’s practice is deeply informed by storytelling, resilience and cultural survival. Her artistic influences are also strongly connected to her father, Kevin Parriman, a respected Jabirr Jabirr/Ngumbarl and Yawuru carver, storyteller and cultural educator from the West Kimberley. His teachings, stories and strong connection to saltwater Country continue to shape the family’s artistic and cultural practices.
Natasha’s work reflects the richness of these combined cultural influences. Having spent significant time on both saltwater and desert wildflower Country with family, her paintings capture memories of place, seasonal changes, family journeys and cultural teachings shared across generations. Through her contemporary Aboriginal art practice, she honours inherited stories while also expressing her own lived experiences and evolving connection to Country.
As both an artist and mother, Natasha has played a significant role in nurturing the creative practices of her daughters Celina Lloyd, Leticia Lloyd and Jessica Lloyd. Together, they continue an evolving intergenerational family dialogue through art, grounded in storytelling, cultural learning and shared experiences on Country.
In Beyond Everlastings, Natasha presents works that speak to family memory, cultural strength and the enduring relationships between land, sea and sky Country. Her paintings contribute to the exhibition’s broader exploration of intergenerational knowledge, resilience and the continuation of cultural storytelling through contemporary Aboriginal art.
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 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.