Indigenous artist Sally Terare's gift of transition

In a painting commissioned by QSuper, Indigenous artist Sally Terare draws on the animal and spirit world to honour QSuper becoming an open fund.

To mark QSuper’s opening to the public last year, Aboriginal artist Sally Terare painted an image of open hands and added butterflies, which start as caterpillars and transform into winged creatures.

She calls the artwork, which hangs QSuper’s Eagle Street office in Brisbane, ‘The Gift of Transition.’

“The idea is that it’s a gift for us to be able to change, to transition into something,” Terare said.

QSuper invited Terare and three other Indigenous artists to produce art for its member offices to promote reconciliation and make Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander members feel more welcome.

Born to a mother of Bundjalung and Butchulla descent, Terare was fostered when she was six months old, but maintained a strong positive connection to her biological family and heritage.

“I’ve had a unique upbringing in that I’ve had two big families,” Terare said. She grew up in Maryborough until she was 13, when her family moved to Brisbane. After studying at the Aboriginal Centre for the Performing Arts, she did office work before deciding to return to art.

“I found I had a desire to paint, learn about my culture and share that culture visually with an audience, so I have been doing contemporary Indigenous painting as a hobby for 16 years now.”

Self-taught, she lets the brush guide her.

“When I sit down to paint, I don’t particularly have a final outcome in mind,” she said.

“What I draw upon is basically just putting the brush and the paint to canvas, and the story comes about in the development of the painting, so I don’t want to limit myself to what I want to paint exactly. It all just flows freely.”

‘The Gift of Transition’ bursts with detail. Tiny footprints hint at a journey. A tree shelters butterflies and a family waiting for loved ones. A warm spirit, symbolised by a featureless face with orange and red flowing hair, welcomes the butterflies as they take flight. It’s a kaleidoscope of colour and shape, painted freehand, except for the circles that frame the butterflies.

Terare balances a spontaneous painting style with a practical business eye. She’s studying entrepreneurship and self-employment opportunities through Griffith University’s online program. In addition to selling her paintings, this single mother of a 4-year-old offered an art program for an area day care. The children learned to paint and studied Indigenous culture.

She’s also started a small business, Bunya Banquet, which sells her paintings and dinnerware that she decorates. She hopes to market her plates, dishes and other items to restaurants, caterers and individuals interested in native Australian food and design.

“It’s definitely a market that I see as trying to fulfil in Australia that few seem to be doing,” she says.

In mid-2019, Terare will have her first solo exhibit at Logan Art Gallery. And she’s working on an additional painting for another QSuper member-facing office, this one featuring dragonflies.

“It’s representative of moving forward and upward as dragonflies do,” she said.