Amanda Zadow

The dots Amanda loves are tiny, perfectly round and meticulously placed on canvas. They come together to create breath-taking pieces of art. Viewers are stunned by the precision, the interesting combination of colour and the undeniable amount of time spent to produce each piece.

Amanda Zadow has been painting for around ten years and first picked up a paint brush whilst residing in the Pilbarra. The artwork has a "Mandala" like quality to it and it is therefore not surprising when Amanda says she finds the creation of each piece "an excellent form of stress relief, the process of placing thousands of tiny dots into configurations almost trance like".

Amanda's family history like many Aboriginal peoples is complex. Family ties in some cases have been lost due to nomadic lifestyle and the taking away of children at very young ages from their families. Amanda's Great-Grandmother was taken from her family as a five year old by a policeman and his wife and moved to Mount Barker. She was in essence considered a slave. As a consequence she could remember very little about her real family before being taken away. A similar fate was meted out to her Grandmother.

Amanda's mother was born in Cue and her Grandmother aged 91 years young resides there still today. Most of Amanda's holidays were spent in Cue with her Grandmother. "I remember listening to the stories from the old people and staying out bush with a family who were still nomadic. They would sit around the fire making spears and shields".

She has lived in Karratha and Kalgoorlie working as an Aboriginal Islander Education Officer - a job she still fulfils in Rockingham today. Aboriginal artists in Kalgoorlie are credited with giving her encouragement, help and advice.

Amanda enjoys going home to Cue and visiting her Grandmother. "My Grandmother can't see or hear very well anymore but she still loves to be driven out bush. We will sit together for hours in absolute silence and just absorb. I try to portray what I feel at these times in my paintings through the animals. I tend to paint snapshots from nature rather than traditional stories" Amanda loves living in Warnbro and plans to stay at least until her children have grown up and finished school.

‘I would like to travel up North into the Kimberley and try and learn more about my family" says Amanda. "There are a lot of McKenzie's who are Aboriginal in the Kimberley's and the Pilbarra. I think my Great Grandmother was related to them"

Until then Amanda will continue painting. "Some of my larger pieces take over a hundred hours to do - I have tried doing bigger dots" she muses "but I can't!"

A collection of Amanda's latest work is currently on display at Tall Poppy Art Framers and Gallery.