Raylene Walatinna

Michael Reid Sydney + Berlin is delighted to welcome a new offering of large-scale paintings by Raylene Walatinna. The Yankunytjatjara artist’s most expansive collection of works to date is showing throughout February across two distinct sites – both within the ground-floor exhibition space at our flagship Eora/Sydney gallery and as a highlight of our next major foray into the United States.

A senior Yankunytjatjara woman and established painter at Iwantja Arts – the Indigenous-owned and -governed art centre in the rocky desert country of Indulkana on the Aṉangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara Lands – Walatinna is the daughter and frequent collaborator of globally acclaimed artist, Iwantja Arts director and three-time Wynne Prize finalist Betty Chimney, as well as an exceptional talent in her own right.

Walatinna often works collaboratively with her mother, continuing the custom of older women passing on knowledge of Tjukurpa (Aṉangu cultural stories) and Ngura (Country) to younger generations. Revealing the influence of her trailblazing mother, Walatinna’s work channels the tones and elemental rhythms of the desert in a celebration of her enduring connection to Country and Yankunytjatjara culture.

As a solo artist, Walatinna produces a limited volume of work, making each new offering a keenly anticipated occasion. Having now completed her most ambitiously scaled body of work yet, she makes her Michael Reid Sydney debut, after previously headlining our Murrurundi gallery’s collaborative exhibition with Country Style magazine, Heirloom, and showing alongside several Iwantja Arts peers in the group exhibition Ngura pilunpa – Peaceful Country at Michael Reid Southern Highlands.

“My mum has always been my closest friend. I learnt how to paint from her – she is a very good teacher. Over time, I’ve developed my own way of working too,” says Walatinna in a profile published in Country Style’s 2025 Art Issue, which coincided with the opening of Heirloom and featured Walatinna’s work on its cover. “My paintings are different to my mum’s – even though we are often painting the same Country. Our shapes usually connect in different ways, and we have different ideas on how to use colour.”

A selection of Walatinna’s newly completed paintings will travel to the United States for the gallery’s forthcoming collaboration with leading Californian contemporary art space LA Loma. Marking the second instalment of Michael Reid Sydney + Berlin’s stateside survey The Stars Before Us All: Australian First Nations Art following its widely celebrated Washington, D.C. run, our Los Angeles exhibition at LA Loma will see Walatinna exhibit alongside her mother and several other luminaries of contemporary First Nations painting.

For enquiries, please email hughholm@michaelreid.com.au