Alice Guiness

Elder and senior artist Alice Guiness holds a deep connection with the Burndud, an important site and story for the Yindjibarndi people. Each stroke of the Burndud circle tells a story and it is through her special connection that Alice shares these stories with the world.

The Burndud circle is an important site and story for the Yindjibarndi people. It is a sacred law ceremony, taught by the Marrga (ancestral creation spirits who shaped and named the country) in the times of Ngurra Nyujunggamu (when the world was soft, the learning times).

Alice expresses her deep joy and positivity by painting the Burndud, mirroring the ceremony she dances every year at law ground in a circular continuous motion until the boys have returned from the first part of initiation. Her use of bold colour and vibrating patterns embody the rhythms and movement of the women dancing and the men singing. Alice’s Burndud paintings have become iconic across the Pilbara, representing Yindjibarndi Ngurra at many festivals and events.

Alice Guiness has been painting since the 1990s, joining various art groups around Roebourne. She is an artist living with a disability that makes it hard for her to communicate and express herself. Painting is at the centre of her life; she paints the same subject repeatedly, selecting different colour patterns to express her feelings and connection to her Ngurra (country).