Sonya Edney & The Beginning Of Something Bigger

Sonya Edney's work has universal appeal. She launched her first sell-out exhibition at Japingka Gallery in 2019, and this success was repeated in 2021, 2022 and 2023. Sonya's moving work gained widespread attention when it was featured in a major multi-media presentation, Seven Sisters, at the Western Australian Museum Boola Bardip. In this interview, Sonya discusses the country and Dreamtime stories that inspired her latest exhibition, as well as her all-consuming passion for painting.

Feature Image: Sonya Edney | Healing Waters – Edithana Pool
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You've come from Burringurrah Country. What's it like there?

Burringurrah is the community. It's named after Mount Augustus. It's beautiful. The ground is red, and there are trees, rivers, and creeks. The mountain itself is very big. It's twice the size of Uluru, but with a lot of trees on it. It's a monolith, and it's beautiful country.

The Creation story of that place is about a man called Burringurrah. Can you tell us the story?

It's a Dreamtime story about a young man who ran away from Aboriginal law. They chased him and speared him in the leg where he had his fighting stick. He was dragging it, and this formed the rivers and creeks that you see there today. This was his resting place in the Upper Gascoyne area.

When we were growing up in the bush, we were told the story of the sacred mountain. We knew when a big storm was approaching because there would be a big dust storm in front of the mountain. You can see the pale yellow dots in the centre of some of my paintings.

Sometimes, we could hear thunder coming from the mountain, yet no clouds were in sight. The mount changes to many different colours, from dark blues to purples to pale blues. According to the spirit Dreaming of Burringurrah, when the warnah buna, the thunderstorm, comes, it fills all the creeks, rivers and creeks, flooding the dry land, and then the wildflowers start blooming across the land like a beautiful, colourful carpet. The bush food starts growing all over the Upper Gascoyne. There's more to the story, but I can't tell it, say it. I'm just saying the parts that are allowed to be told.

What other memories do you have of being there as a child?

Swimming in the creeks and waterholes, looking around for the bush food. We'd be swimming and going to different places for dinner outs. Dinner outs are like going for a picnic or going out to the look-out. People go to the park and things like that. But this is out in the bush. You go for the day. Dad would get the kangaroo, and then we'd make the fire. All of us kids would collect the wood to make a fire in the riverbed or creek bed. It's very sandy. Mum would make the damper, and we'd all sit down and eat together.

What's it been like working on the retelling these stories?

Well, I thought about the rain first, about the warnah buna, the big rainstorm, thunderstorm. Then, I decided to do the painting about Mount Augustus. I thought, "Well, it's all connected to one story." For all my paintings that I've done, through all the exhibitions that I've done, it's all related to where I grew up in Burringurrah, in that area. And Mount Augustus is the main story for this, for the creeks, the rivers, the water holes, the Dreaming.

Has it been special for you to go on this next step?

Yeah. As an artist, I grew up out there, and I've been sketching and drawing most of my childhood. Being on this journey, as I got older, I paint about my life when I was a child out in the bush with my sisters and my brothers and my mother and my father and family all out there. It was a good time. I think this is why I want to name the exhibition, Burringurrah Dreaming, because it's my dream, it's my story, it's my journey.

Do you notice any change in your painting technique? Is your colour preference changing? Do you enjoy experiments?

Yes. The colours are changing. I love the greens at the moment, and I just dream about these colours and then as these visualise in my mind, I can see the colours. It just comes to me. When I have this good feeling about painting these colours, I get the canvas and I paint straight on it. As I work, I can feel the energy coming out of me. The feeling of that colour is what I was visualising. I'm putting it onto the canvas, and it's a good feeling.

When people ask what you love about painting, what do you tell them?

It's my passion. It's what I do. It runs through me. It's me. When people who know me see me, they ask if I've been still painting. I say, "Yeah because it runs through my body; it runs in my veins. It's who I am." I guess I'll never stop.

Do you follow an art-making routine?

I just go with what I visualise and what I can see. I have this vision of something else. I've got this strong feeling about this painting that I will do as my next artwork. There are these colours coming to me, these feelings coming to me. I think I've gotten wiser as I've gotten older through the years since I've been with Japingka about how to use colour.

Years ago, you walked into Japingka to show them your work for the first time. How has your life changed since then?

It changed a lot. It gave me more confidence as an artist and taught me how to speak, especially in front of people. Because I was shy before, I couldn't even speak to you at the first interview, but after the second and third, it got easier. Now, I just feel more relaxed and more confident about what I'm saying and how I speak to people. I don't know; it's just a journey that everyone's got to learn.

What message do you want to send young artists following in your footsteps?

Just keep going on your journey. You're just beginning. As a young artist, you're beginning your journey. As you grow and get older and older, you get wiser with your colours, with the way you paint, the way you see colour, and the way you visualise things in your mind that you want to create. You've got a creative mind, and keep going on the journey.

Do you have a message for the people about your new exhibition?

Yeah, I paint with my feelings about what you go through in your life. For me, as an artist, I've painted most of my life, painting and doing artwork. I just paint the feelings onto the canvas, what you see today. I think that makes my work connect with people because I paint what I dream about.

Do you dream about paintings?

I dream about painting all the time. I've been dreaming about painting since I was a kid. I had this vision of becoming famous for my artwork and one day; it would happen. So, when I turn 50, before I turn 50, everything's going to change for me because I already visualised that.

My Dreaming is going to keep continuing. It's not going to stop yet. I'm here for a purpose. There's something big that's going to happen. I can feel it. I mean, spiritually.

There is a short documentary about you on SBS on Demand.

The interview, yes, the NITV. At first, I was very nervous, and the camera was in my face right there. But yeah, it's like I was having a yarn, and I was nervous, but I didn't show it on the TV. Because everyone didn't know I could speak like that. It was exposing myself really to the world. Everyone knew me as an artist, but they didn't know I could speak like that. It's the talk of the town up north.

What did you feel when you looked at the finished film?
I thought, "This is the beginning of something bigger. Something bigger is going to happen."