"This work is about my culture and language, Yankunytjatjara culture. I am a proud Yankunytjatjara woman. My family has been Yankunytjatjara people. Our language is different to Pitjantjatjara. Most people speak Pitjantjatjara these days, and I like spending time with the few family members who still speak Yankunytjatjara and teaching the young ones about our language. I am painting a lot of the trees, grasses, and their seeds that are specific to my language and region. There are many words in Yankunytjatjara that come directly from the trees, and I want to paint them to keep them strong and alive for the next generation. Palya."

Beverly is a proud Yankunytjatjara woman living in Mimili Community. Beverly is a highly regarded cultural authority on Yankunytjatjara Wapar (songlines) in the Eastern region of the Anangu Pitjatjatjara Yankunytjatjara Lands. A mother and grandmother to many, Beverly has been an educator her entire life, sharing her beloved country with family members, collecting natural foods such as tjala (honeyants) and maku (witchetty grubs), or sourcing irmangka-irmangka (traditional healing plant) and mingkulpa (bush tobacco).

She started painting alongside her sister Puna Yanima and has quickly become an essential part of Mimili Maku Arts. Beverly paints the vibrant diversity of trees, wildflowers, medicinal plants and food sources of her country in bold colours and intricate detail.

Mimili Community is home to 300 Pitjantjatjara and Yankunytjatjara people who have been living in the area for millennia in harmony with nature and acting as custodians of the land and the Tjukurpa (creation stories). Mimili was formerly known as Everard Park, which was a cattle station that was returned to Aboriginal ownership through the 1981 APY Lands Act. Mimili Community was incorporated as an Aboriginal Community in 1975.

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