Susan Betts

Susan 'Susie' Betts is a First Nations artist, illustrator and cultural advisor. She has ancestral connections to Wirangu, Kokata and Mirning country, community and language groups on the far West coast of South Australia.

Career

Qantas jet covered in Nalanji Dreaming artwork by Susan Betts and Balarinji Design Studio.

Betts' artworks created whilst employed at Balarinji Design Studio include the Nalanji Dreaming design[1] covering a Qantas jet in 1995.[2][3] She developed the Sweet Water design for an oversized Coca-Cola bottle displayed at the 1996 Olympics and now in Atlanta Museum.[4]

She designed a cultural football guernsey for the Adelaide Crows worn during 2016 for the Australian Rules Football Indigenous round at the request of her nephew Eddie Betts.[5][6][7]

Betts has undertaken international research through a Churchill Fellowship in 2018 exploring the Seven Sisters (Pleiades) constellation and creation stories (Tjukurpa) across Indigenous cultures in Australia and overseas. As a part of this fellowship she was able to visit the Elliston and Streaky Bay areas which had been taboo to her people for many years; this was possible after a ceremony acknowledging the Waterloo Bay massacre and what had been lost.[8]

Betts said of this:[8]

We want to make this connection back on country because for thousands of years our people have been coming here, our ancestors and doing ceremony.

— Susan Betts, 8 October 2020, ABC Eyre Peninsula

As of 2024, Betts is a Board member of Country Arts SA and part of their First Nations Advisory Committee.[9]

Selected works

Children's books

• Warna-Manda Baby Earth Walk (2021) by Susan Betts and Mandy Foot[10]
• Lullabies for Bed Time (2017) by Susan Betts, Phil Cummings, Mike Dumbleton, Katrina Germein and Louise Pike[11]
• It's Bed Time (2009) by Katrina Germein, Phil Cummings, Susan Betts and Tania Cox[12]

Awards

• The Gladys Elphick awards - Quiet Achiever award in 2016.[13]
• Churchill Trust Fellowship in 2018.[14]
• Shortlisted in 2022 for The Wilderness Society Karajia Award for Children’s Literature for her picture book Warna-Manda Baby Earth Walk, written and illustrated by Susan Betts with co-illustrator Mandy Foot.[15][16]

References

1. Regional Development Australia collaborations (2016-10-25). "Wiyana Spirit". Regional Development Australia Eyre Peninsula. Retrieved 2024-06-11.
2. National Museum of Australia, Acton Peninsula. "National Museum of Australia - Balarinji art and design collection". www.nma.gov.au. Retrieved 2024-06-11.
3. Qantas (3 July 2024). "Flying Art Series".
4. Lange, Jacques (1997). "Coke art, folk art: The Coca-cola salute to folk art". Sabinet African Journals: 15–16.
5. "Adelaide Crows unveil new Indigenous jumper". NITV. Retrieved 2024-06-11.
6. "Crows to don Indigenous jumper". afc.com.au. 2016-05-22. Retrieved 2024-02-26.
7. Homfray, Reece (25 May 2016). "Eddie's Pride". Advertiser, the (Adelaide): 66 – via Ebsco.
8. "Seven Sisters stars creation story reconnecting people to their country after clifftop massacre taboo lifted". ABC Eyre Peninsula. 2020-10-07. Retrieved 2024-06-11.
9. "Our People". Country Arts. Retrieved 2024-07-03.
10. Austlit. "Warna-Manda Baby Earth Walk | AustLit: Discover Australian Stories". www.austlit.edu.au. Retrieved 2024-07-03.
11. Austlit. "Lullabies for Bed Time | AustLit: Discover Australian Stories". www.austlit.edu.au. Retrieved 2024-07-03.
12. "It's bed time / illustrations by Katharine Lahn ; music by Mike Steer ; words by Phil Cummings,... - Catalogue | National Library of Australia". catalogue.nla.gov.au. Retrieved 2024-07-03.
13. "Award Categories". Gladys Elphick Awards. Retrieved 2024-06-18.
14. "Susan Betts - Churchill Trust". www.churchilltrust.com.au. Retrieved 2024-02-26.
15. Austlit. "Susan Betts | AustLit: Discover Australian Stories". www.austlit.edu.au. Retrieved 2024-06-11.
16. Mem: 7752768. "Wilderness Society announces Environment Award shortlists, new Karajia Award | Books+Publishing". Retrieved 2024-06-24.

External links

• Susan Betts on Austlit