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Born in August 1975 in Healesville, Victoria, Mandy Nicholson is of the Woi wurrrung language group of the Wurundjeri-willam clan of the Kulin Nation of people from Melbourne. Always interested in visual art, Nicholson began drawing as a child, developing her skills into painting. In 1993 while in Year 12 at school, Nicholson began creating what she has described as “Aboriginal art” in art classes, encouraged by her teacher who was aware of her cultural heritage. In 1994 she began studying art at various institutions including Monash University (where she was enrolled in a “Koorie Studies” course), Swinburne and RMIT TAFE Colleges and her local Community Development Employment Program (CDEP). These institutions introduced her to the media of carving, printmaking (including etching) and ceramics, and also to clothing production and small business training. All her work is informed by designs and stories of her people incorporating her own interpretations. Her paintings are created by the use of synthetic polymer on water-colour paper and sometimes canvas board. In correspondence with the author in September 2008, Nicholson said “the stories behind my designs all revolve around nature, animals and stories of my people, personal experience and my two daughters. I always incorporate traditional imagery into all my pieces.” She sold her first work of art, Marla’s (wallabies) Grazing, (acrylic on canvas) in 1994 to a private collector.

Nicholson’s first solo exhibition “Artworks by Mandy Nicholson” was held in 2001 at the Koorie Heritage Trust in Melbourne. In 2002 her work Welcome to Melbourne was projected around Manchester Stadium during the Closing Ceremony of the 2002 Manchester Commonwealth Games. Since 2002 she has participated in a number of group exhibitions including “Mission Voices” at the Koorie Heritage Trust (2004), the inaugural “Gumbri-White Dove Art Competition Exhibition” (which she won) at Bundoora Homestead (2004), “She Who Dreams” at Walker Street Gallery (2007) and “Moving Pictures” at Manningham Gallery (2008), which she also curated.

The Yarra River (Birrarung) is a constant theme throughout her work as it is the Birrarung creation story that is one of the most important for her people. Nicholson has worked as a waitress, sales representative, secretary, shop manager, cultural resource officer and muralist and in 2006 she was commissioned to work collaboratively on one public art installation, Common Ground, at Birrarung Marr public parklands in Melbourne. She was also commissioned to create her first solo public artwork kirrip wurrung biik (friend, mouth, country) for the Wyndham Cultural Centre in Werribee. The Common Ground installation consisted of cast-iron spears and air-chiselled boulders and kirrip wurrung biik employs the use of sand-blasted black limestone. While Common Ground encompassed the story of Bunjil (the Eagle) the creator and his helpers, kirrip wurrung biik focuses on the story of the Kulin Nation that the Wurundjeri people are a part of.

Nicholson’s work is held in the permanent collections of the National Gallery of Australia, the Manningham Gallery, Bundoora Homestead, the Aboriginal Community Elders Service and the Aboriginal Catholic Ministry.

Writers:

Allas, Tess Note:

Date written:

2008

Last updated:

2011

Status:

peer-reviewed