Kim Williams

LOCATION
Beaudesert QLD 4285
EMAIL kim_williams6IGNORE@hotmail.com
CREATIVE ART PRACTICES Work for Exhibition, Teaching, Storytelling, Community Arts, Artist in Residence, Work With Children
I’ve been painting since my white family got me when I was about 5. I was drawing on the walls and they couldn’t work out what I was drawing. I was mainly drawing animals in my own lingo. Then the welfare officers said it could be my indigenous heritage coming out. All the way through school, I was top in my class in art but that was not acceptable in those days in the schooling system. I was condemned as a little devil in the catholic system. I paint stories that my grandmother told me. My grandmother got visiting rights when I was about 6 – she visited me about twice a year. She told me lots of stories and she made sure I knew the stories that were significant. It is important that I keep these stories going as I have become the teller of these stories in my family and my role is to continue to share these stories with the next generation and generations to come. My grandmother was from St George region “Kullulili clan” and the stories are about the landscape and dreamtime stories and what they mean. I also paint Spiritual women’s stories that are significant to my family. My grandmother was taken away from St George to Purga Creek, south of Ipswich, and then relocated to Cherberg where she had her children. I was also born in Cherburg under a gum tree. I mainly work in acrylic and have used traditional rock ochres that were handed down from my Grandmother and these are used only for ceremonies. I paint mainly in my studio at home but I do occasionally go out into the parks and paint in amongst the smell of nature. It is very special and things go into the canvas when I’m out there. I’m drawn to making sure that when I paint the stories, that people know what the symbols mean. I give the story to the buyer so that they know what my stories are about. I put my stories into indigenous lingo first then followed by English.