Sonya Edney returns after her highly successful debut solo exhibition at Japingka Gallery. Sonya has revisited many of the sites from her childhood growing up in the Gascoyne region of Western Australia. One of the strongest memories is of the stories of the Milky Way and Seven Sisters told as they gazed at the luminous night skies over vast spinifex country near Mt Augustus.
Sonya distils the experience of the immensity of this vision of star-filled night skies in her paintings. The dominating stories of the Milky Way and Yalibirri, the Emu in the Sky reflect Aboriginal star knowledge that transcends Australia.
Sonya’s work is featured in the new Western Australian Museum Boola Bardip. Sonya’s painting Seven Sisters is part of the permanent Origins exhibition, one of the most popular exhibits in the museum’s collection. Alec Coles, CEO of the WA Museum and Annie Carson, Assistant Curator Anthropology & Archaeology, introduce Sonya’s work here: