South Australian visual artist Kunyi June Anne McInerney's exhibition My Paintings Speak For Me is currently on display at the Walkway Gallery.
For this exhibition, Kunyi has drawn upon her childhood experiences as a member of the Stolen Generation growing up in the Oodnadatta Children's Home during the 1950's.
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Her vibrant use of colour, facial expression and depiction of landscape document her memories and reflect on the strict life she had alongside other mission kids who became her only family.
The paintings and stories have been collated by curator Maggie Fletcher, and will be published into a book due for release in 2019.
"These are my stories from a dry, remote place where my experiences were so different from what Australian children know today," Kunyi said.
"I want to tell my story, so they don't ever do it again. They took away my family, my culture and who I could have been. These are not fairy tales, they are true.
"I want people to understand what happened. Painting is the best way for me to tell my stories."
After first showing at the Migration Museum in Adelaide for Reconciliation Week in 2018, Country Arts SA is now touring the exhibition throughout regional South Australia.
In addition to the exhibition of paintings, audiences will have the opportunity to see Kunyi's paintings and stories come to life through a newly commissioned artist video, which will see sound and animation added to her imagery.
"We are delighted to present this exhibition that provides insight into a dark and often forgotten time in Australian history that has an ongoing impact today," Country Arts SA CEO Steve Saffell said.
"There's a lot of sadness but also joy in Kunyi's representation of her childhood memories on the Mission Home.
"Parts of her story will literally come to life before your eyes in an animated video we have commissioned to complement her work."
Kunyi was taken from her mother, Daisy McInerney, a Yankunytjatjara woman and placed in the Oodnadatta Children's Home at four years old (1955).
She was one of many Aboriginal children removed from their families between the 1900s and 1960s to be brought up in institutions or white foster families.
Kunyi has used painting as a means of reconciling her past and to share her stories so people can understand what happened to her and so many others.
An honest and sensitive exploration of this time in her life, the exhibition touches on themes of separation from family, loss of culture and struggle, all the while finding moments of joy in the hardship with other children in the Mission Home.
Kunyi June Anne McInerney's My Paintings Speak For Me runs from November 2-20 at the Walkway Gallery.
Taylor Harvey
Taylor is the lone journalist at the Border Chronicle, which serves as a news medium for residents of the Tatiara. This is his first job in the field after completing his study at the University of Adelaide.
Taylor is the lone journalist at the Border Chronicle, which serves as a news medium for residents of the Tatiara. This is his first job in the field after completing his study at the University of Adelaide.
