‘So proud’: Pope Leo XIV gifted painting by Ngarrindjeri artist
A South Australian artist woke up this morning to see her painting in the hands of the new pope.
A painting by Ngarrindjeri artist Amanda Westley was gifted by Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese to the new Pope, Leo XIV, in a private audience on Monday.
Albanese was recently in the Vatican to attend the inauguration mass of Pope Leo.
“So this happened! …. I woke to my Instagram blowing up!… I had no idea this was happening by the way 😂😂… our PM gifted the Pope a piece of my art … I’m so stoked 🙌🏽….,” said Westley on her Instagram.
Westley told InDaily she only found out the news when her Instagram “blew up” this morning.
“First off, I was like, ‘This can’t be right because surely someone would have told me’,” says Westley.
“I don’t think I really had time to process it or think about it because I had to get ready and go to work.
“It’s my daughter’s 13th birthday as well, so I’m trying to celebrate that for the 10 minutes I have with her in the morning before I’m out the door.
“Later on, by the time I got to work, I had over 200 messages from people I don’t know, and I’m like, ‘Okay, maybe this is exciting’.”
Westley said the acrylic on canvas, titled Raukkan (Ngarrindjeri for “meeting place”), represents the Point McLeay mission that was later renamed when it was returned to the Ngarrindjeri people.
Stay informed, daily
Westley said she is “so proud” to see her Ngarrindjeri culture represented.
“Of all the art over Australia, from all the different mobs that it could have come from, it’s come from Ngarrindjeri mob, off Ngarrindjeri country, and that’s something super exciting to be proud about,” she said.
Westley is currently exhibiting her work at galleryM in Oaklands Park. She will also be showing her art in The Magic of Forever Art group exhibition at Artworx Gallery in Goolwa in August as part of the SALA Festival and the Water People art exhibition at Coral Street Art Space in Victor Harbor from June 6 to July 31.
