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Donna Lei Rioli
Donna is a young Nyungar woman who is dedicated to the heritage and culture of the Nyungar people on her mother's side, Robyn Collard, and the Tiwi people on her father's side, Maurice Rioli. Whadjuk/Balardong is her mother's country and her father and grandfather's country is at Wulawunga on Melville Island north of Darwin.
About the artist
The artwork and information that appears here and on other pages was provided by the artist.
- The artist: Donna Lei Rioli
- The artwork: the balga bush (view gallery)
Donna Lei Rioli
Donna Lei Rioli is a young Nyungar woman who is dedicated to the heritage and culture of the Nyungar people on her mother's side, Robyn Collard, and the Tiwi people on her father's side, Maurice Rioli. Whadjuk/Balardong is her mother's country and her father and grandfather's country is at Wulawunga on Melville Island north of Darwin. Her father's language is the Tiwi language. Donna's family and networks stretch throughout the length and breadth of Nyungar boodjar. Nyungar is the name of the original people of the south-west of Western Australia. The twelve language groups within Nyungar are Balardong, Juat, Kaneang, Koreng, Minang, Njakinjaki, Pibelmen, Pindjarup, Wardandi, Whadjuk, Wiilman, and Wudjari.
Donna's Nyungar dreaming is the kooyer or frog and her Tiwi dreaming is that of the turtle or tutakalani. Donna has sold many of her paintings for other people to appreciate and enjoy. Her signature style is that of the country with the balga bush as the centrepiece of her artwork. She combines both dot symbols and country on the pieces depicted on this website. Donna enjoys painting because it enables her to express her Tiwi and Nyungar heritage and combines the two in a unique way.
Donna says, "the balga bush is something I like to paint because it is an important plant that the Nyungar people use".
The balga bush
In the past Nyungar used the long green parts of the bush for their mia mia (huts) to shelter them from the weather. Nyungar also laid them on the ground in their mia mia to rest or sleep on. Inside the trunk part of the balga bush you can find its sticky sap which is a resin like substance. The resin could be combined with yonga (kangaroo) droppings and other substances and heated over the fire to make a type of glue. This glue was used when it was still fairly warm to fix a sharpened stone to a piece of boorn (stick or wood) to make a koitj (axe), or the resin was attached to a piece of boorn and used for lighting fires. Another use for the resin was for tanning yonga skins to make a booka (clothing garment). Nyungar also used the balga bush for merenj (food), they used to dig down to the white shoots which can be found at the bottom of the grass. Even today the balga bush is important to Nyungar for lighting fires whether it is in their homes or when they go out to the bush for nourishment, katitjin (knowledge) and spiritual rebirth or to simply participate in cultural activities.
As you can see the balga bush provides many uses for the Nyungar people and this is why I like to paint them.
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