174-26TA, Valerie Young, Acrylic on Belgian Linen, 151 x 200, Tjala Arts.
My name is Valerie Young.
I was born in Amata and grew up here. When I was growing up, I remember watching the land change with the seasons. The flowers and trees were so colourful and beautiful in every season. The Inuntji (native flowers) blossom when their turn comes to shine. I paint them because I love the landscape of our beautiful country. When I was growing up, I would see lots of different plants, growing widely all around us, but these days we hardly ever see them. So, I paint the native flowers because they have disappeared since buffel grass was introduced. It destroyed our land, sucked the life out of our beautiful native flowers. I paint Ngayuku ngura (my Country) – Amata's native flowers and the surroundings from my childhood.
