Sonya Edney

About Sonya Edney

Date of Birth

1974

Place of Birth

Carnarvon

Region

Gascoyne, Western Australia

Language

Yinggarda, Wadjarri

Family

Sonya Edney is a largely self-taught Yinggarda (Ingarrda) artist born in 1974 in Carnarvon in the Gascoyne region of Western Australia. Sonya started painting at home at Burringurrah community, located between the towns of Carnarvon and Meekatharra, where she grew up and attended school of the air. Later, she began a Visual Arts course at Carnarvon TAFE and was approached to teach her skills in the local schools for NAIDOC week. Sonya’s father, Ernest Edney (dec.), who was a dogger (people who hunted and trapped dingoes), was also a musician, and Sonya also played musical instruments. She attributes her artistic talents to her family.

Sonya says “Painting inspires me, when I think about home. When I travel and see different country and different scenery, that makes me think about my own country. It takes me back home to where all my inspiration first started out in the bush with my family. Living out in the bush was all about learning where you come from and the stories you were told.”

Sonya has worked in a wide range of mediums from drawing and painting to mosaics, mural painting, basket weaving and silkscreen printing, as well as being involved in the illustrations for Irra Wangga Language Programs. She has travelled widely in Western Australia and has worked at art centres in Geraldton, Carnarvon, and Port Hedland.

Her current interests are painting the country of the upper Gascoyne and moving out towards Mt Augustus. “It’s red sand and spinifex country, and in springtime, there are everlastings and other wildflowers, and the creeks are running. I’ve got many stories in my head, so it’s good to paint one theme.”

Once the colours are organised in my mind, the rest just follows along. It takes a while to get all the background colours done, and then it goes from there. I wait, maybe overnight, until the rest of the painting comes to me. Sometimes it is in a dream. Then I start with a colour. Then I add some other tints to it to make it darker or lighter, to create movement and to tell the story.” Sonya adds, “The more I paint, the more stories come into my mind that I want to paint, stories from when I was growing up. One story brings back another. It’s an ongoing and compelling process.”

Sonya is currently living in Perth and paints at her home. Over the last five years, she has had family and friends that have passed. She says: “Sometimes when I’m painting, with the grief I’ve had, the painting helps me get through it. I came to Perth in 2018 and approached Japingka Gallery with one painting. It opened a new doorway for me, and I have become wiser and more creative throughout my journey.”

In early October 2020, Sonya went to the Pilbara and Upper Gascoyne for two weeks with a group led by Peter Salmon, who wanted to go back to his Warrinyangga country with his children and grandchildren. His main purpose was to re-enliven his ancestral language, as he is its last living speaker, and pass it down his family line in the hope of preserving it. The trip was reinvigorating for Sonya, too, and a re-connection to her country as they travelled through and stopped at a number of the places where she had lived with her family as a child. Since Sonya has been painting with Japingka, her iconic artworks have found a local, national and international audience, finding distant homes in the USA, Europe and Ireland. Since 2020, Sonya has had two paintings in the inaugural exhibition at the new Western Australian Museum, Boola Bardip.

Solo Exhibitions

2019  My Journey through Ingarrda Country, Japingka Gallery, Fremantle WA

2021  Gascoyne Night Skies, Japingka Gallery, Fremantle WA

2022  Recent Paintings, Japingka Gallery, Fremantle WA

2023  Yingarrda Waterholes and Wildflowers, Japingka Gallery, Fremantle WA

2024  Burringurrah Dreaming, Japingka Gallery, Fremantle WA

Selected Group Exhibitions

1997  First Prize, Human Rights Day Art Competition, Gascoyne Arts Council WA

1997  Student Art Exhibition Carnarvon TAFE WA

2002  Derby Art Exhibition, Derby WA

2003  Second Prize, Kimberley Craft Show, Derby WA

2007  NAIDOC Art Exhibition, Exmouth WA

2007  Banggumayigu Walgajulgu, Geraldton Museum, Geraldton WA

2008  Cossack Art Exhibition, Roebourne WA

2008  Connect, QPT, Geraldton WA

2009  Ilgarijiri, GRAG, AIATSIS, Canberra, ACT

2009  Hedland Art Awards, Pt Hedland WA

2009  Ilgarijiri, Curtin University, Perth, WA
2009  Ilgarijiri, GUC, Geraldton WA
2009  NAIDOC, ACDC, Geraldton WA
2009  Ilgarijiri, GRAG, Geraldton WA
2009  OPR Good Art, QV1, Perth WA
2009  Harmony Week, QPT, Geraldton WA

2012  Oakajee Port and Rail: Good Heart Mid-West Aboriginal Art Exhibition, Perth WA

2015  We Call It Home, FORM, Perth WA

2017  The Gurawu Collection, Yamaji Artists, Mundaring Arts Centre, Mundaring WA

2017  Ngang Badimaya Wangga – Yarns with Gami Ollie George, Geraldton Regional Art Gallery,

Geraldton WA

2021 Origins, Boola Bardip – WA Museum, Perth WA

2023 First Lights, Nyinggulu – Fremantle Biennale, Exmouth, WA

Collections

Geraldton Regional Hospital

Telethon Kids Institute, Western Australia

RAC, Western Australia

Boola Bardip – Western Australian Museum, Perth WA

Commissions

Design of one of eleven of the Welcome Rest Stops Across the Pilbara

Residencies

2015 Screen and Lino Printing Residency, Edith Cowan University, Perth WA

Read More about Sonya:

• Sonya Edney Artist Profile