Skin name: Nakamarra
Language: Arrente
Date of birth: 13 May 1954
From: Hermannsburg/Tempe Downs
Current home: Alice Springs

Selma grew up in Hermannsburg and went to school with Ivy Pareroultja.  She is an accomplished acrylic artist as well as a  watercolour artist.

Selma tells about herself:

“My name is Selma Coulthard. My Aboriginal name is Nunay, which means ‘cute’ or ‘adorable’.

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 Hermannsburg (Ntaria) where I did my schooling. It is here that my love for art started.

I have seen the Namatjira brothers doing their painting in Ntaria and around tourism camps such as Glen Helen and Palm Valley. 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 in its own right. I have done Artwork based on my stories: my work on Mulga Spinifex Country, my country where I grew up and lived – Urrampinyi (Tempe Downs), oasis in the Desert at Urrampinyi, running Waters – Irrmakara, spiritual Keepers of our land, my dreaming – the Thorny Devil, animals in my country, painting depicting women’s ceremonial site (business), and more.”

Exhibitions:

• 2010-2011 Flinders University City Gallery, Adelaide
• 2011 Wollongong City Gallery, Wollongong
• 2011 The University Gallery, Newcastle
• 2011, Chapman Gallery, Canberra
• 2011 Norpa, Lismore