Amanda Westley

My name is Amanda Westley,

I am a Ngarrindjeri woman and artist, born in Victor Harbor, South Australia in 1985. My totems are the whale, pelican and black swan. Growing up I experienced the best of both worlds living the farm life 12kms out of coastal country town of Victor Harbor. My father was a boat builder so the water and the ocean have always been a big part of my life. My painting style is dot work and the bright colours from my coastal country hometown and the ocean are represented through my paintings. I have been painting from a very young age and my style is contemporary Aboriginal dot art, I have always enjoyed painting and the calm that it brought. My paintings represent country, for Aboriginal people land has a spiritual and cultural connection and is so important to our identity and way of life. With my painting I have used a combination of pinks, yellows, blues, greens and oranges to represent how I see my Ngarrindjeri country, the small country town near the ocean. My family is one of the oldest Aboriginal families here on the south coast so this land I call home has been a part of my family for a very long time, and by creating these paintings I am acknowledging the important connection my family have with this land.

Special Event

20/05/2025 NEWS BROKE: Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese presented Pope Leo XIV at the Apostolic Palace in Vatican City one of Amanda’s creations titled ‘Raukkan’, Meeting Place on 19th May 2025

Exhibitions

Traversing Nature, 26/02/2022 to 18/03/2022, Artworx Gallery, Goolwa SA

SALA August 2021 Artworx Gallery, Goolwa SA

Small and Humble, 9 July - 3 August 2020, Gallery of Small Things (GOST) and Humble House
gallery, Canberra (ACT), Australia

Gallery swap with GOST, 16 April - 3 May, 2020, The Corner Store Gallery, Orange, New South
Wales

Ngarrindjeri Ruwe, 14 September - 1 December, 2019, McLaren Vale, South Australia (SA)

Living Arts, 3 - 19 August 2019, Coral Street Art Space, Victor Harbor, SA

NAIDOC 2019, 7 - 14 July 2019, Signal Point Gallery, Goolwa, SA

Spirit of Place, January 2019, Japingka Aboriginal Art Gallery, Western Australia, (WA)

The Heysen Art Prize for Landscape 2018, 6 October – 9 December, 2018, Hahndorf Academy, SA

Loreto Spring Art Show, 7 - 9 September 2018, Loreto College, SA

SA Living Arts SALA Festival, August 2018, Kiri Kiri Art Gallery, Victor Harbor,
SA

Stump Hill Gallery, March 2018, McLaren Vale, SA

Ngayuku Ngura - My Country, 30 May - 24 June 2018, The Hahndorf Academy, SA

Talking Land Lines, talking colours, 9 February - 14 March 2018, Japingka Aboriginal Art Gallery, WA

Let’s Take The Next Steps, 29 May 2017, the Living Kaurna Cultural Centre, Warriparinga, SA

Uwankara Together, June - July 2017, Signal Point Gallery, Goolwa, SA

Tarnanthi, 11 October 2017, The Hahndorf Academy, SA

RAW Signature, 1 April 2016, The Producers, SA

Malpa Wiru Good Friends, June - July 2016, Signal Point Gallery, Goolwa, SA

RAW Splendour, 4 June 2015, The Currumbin RSL, Queensland

Awards / Prizes

Finalist, The Heysen Art Prize for Landscape 2018, Hahndorf Academy, SA

Art Commissions / Collaborations

Commission, Victor Harbor Medical Centre - three artworks for their interiors, 29 March 2019

Collaboration with wine maker, Somos (@somoswines) to design label artwork for a bottle of
vermentino, 2020

Collaboration with clothing brand, Rolla’s Jeans (@rollasjeans) and Uptown Local,
(@uptown_local) to design artwork for men’s shirts, 2019/2020

Collaboration with Lifewear Australia to make official NAIDOC merchandise, 2019

Collaboration with clothing brand, KarlaCola (@karla_cola), to make reusable food wraps, 2019

Collaboration with clothing brand, KarlaCola (@karla_cola), to design artwork for two dresses (Thungarri Voices – pink/red design and Kondoli Whale – blue design), 2019

Collaboration with Encounter Bay Football Club to design their 2019 Indigenous round guernseys, 2019

Collaboration with sunglasses and eyeware store, Aya Optical (@ayaeyewear), located in North
Vancouver, British Columbia, to design 2 patterns based on indigenous art, 2019

Collaboration with modern cloth nappies brand, Designer Bums (@desnerbums_mcn), 2019/2018

Adam Goodes and Michael O’Laughlin Go foundation collaboration 2019, 2021 & 2021

Collaboration with 5 Ngarrindjeri artists to create artwork for the Granite Island Causeway 2021

Education

Awarded Certificate III in Learning an Endangered Aboriginal Language, Tauondi College, 2019, Port Adelaide, SA

2025 - Visual Arts, co-educator at Ngutu College, Woodville North, SA kaurna land