Date of Birth: 1986
Region: Utopia Region, Central Australia
Language: Anmatyerre
Belinda is the daughter of Margaret Golder and Sammy Pitjara. Belinda is an Anmatyerre woman from the Utopia region in Central Australia. She grew up at Mulga Bore in the Utopia region surrounded by her family and kin. Utopia is renowned for its development and nurturing of extremely talented Indigenous artists including her sister Janet Golder, grandmother’s Polly Ngale, Emily Kame Kngwarreye (dec) and Angelina Ngale; along with her grandfather Old Henry Pitjara and uncle Greeny Purvis Petyarre (dec), all well known, talented and collectable artists.
Belinda predominantly depicts ‘Bush Yam (plum)’ stories which is a staple legume that was gathered by the women and cooked in the hot embers of the campfire. The bush plum is known as anwekety and only fruits for a few weeks of the year. In the Bush Plum Jukurrpa (Dreaming) the bush plum seeds were blown all over the ancestral lands by the winds and they bore fruit on Utopia lands. The first anwekety of this Jukurrpa grew there and became part of the food of the Anmatyerre people.
Belinda’s paintings show the leaves and flowers of the country where the Bush Yams are found. As taught to her by her family, she often paints wet on wet, so the colours continue to blend into one another. The women at Utopia maintain the ceremonial dancing and singing that ritually pays homage to the Yam plant and its important role in traditional life.