Selma Coulthard

Selma is an accomplished acrylic and watercolour painter. She grew up in Ntaria (Hermannsburg) where she went to school with fellow artist Ivy Pareroultja.

Selma states about herself: “My name is Selma Coulthard and my Aboriginal name is Nunay. I am a Pertama Maduthara Luritja Tribe from Urrampinyi (Tempe Downs Station) which is located South West of Alice Springs in Central Australia. I was born in Alice Springs in 1954 and grew up at Tempe Downs until the Government started to remove half caste kids from their families and put them in mission boarding homes. I was taken to Ntaria where I did my schooling. It is here that my love for art started when I saw Ivy Pareroultja painting Mt. Hermannsburg. In the 1950s my father used to work as a tourist guide at Palm Valley (a spot we called Titjarritjarra) and I used to see watercolour painters working on site. I have always wanted to be an artist and I just hope that my work will be recognised.

No work is the same each piece is unique in its own right. I usually try and remember the landscape and the way the colours change in different times of the day, sometime I see purple, orange and red. My colours are always true to my country. My first ever watercolour painting, when I was in grade 6, was photographed for the National Geographic magazine. I have always created artwork based on my stories: my work on Mulga Spinifex Country, my country where I grew up and lived – Urrampinyi (Tempe Downs), the oasis in the Desert at Urrampinyi, running Waters at Irrmakara, spiritual keepers of our land, my Dreaming – the Thorny Devil, animals in my country, paintings depicting women’s ceremonial site (business) and more.”