Selina is one of the celebrated Numina sisters, whose bold, confident, and colourful paintings are enjoyed in homes throughout Australia and all over the world. Her sisters are Sharon, Louise, Caroline, Jacinta and Lanita – and each of the Numina sisters are highly regarded Aboriginal Artists in their own right. Selina, her sisters and two brothers are the children of Barbara Pananka Price and the late Douglas Petyarre, and it was two of Douglas’ sisters – the internationally-renowned Aboriginal Artists Gloria and Kathleen Petyarre – who taught their nieces to paint the Bush Medicine Leaf ceremony (Aunty Gloria) and Thorny Lizard Dreaming (Aunty Kathleen). The Numina Sisters are also the great nieces of Emily Kngawarreye and Kudditji Kngawarreye, who along with Minnie Pwerle and Ada Bird Petyarre, are the most internationally acclaimed artists of the Aboriginal Art Movement of the Utopia Aboriginal Lands of the Eastern Desert that emerged in the 1970s.
Selina started her painting career in 2006, having moved to Darwin from Stirling Station to be closer to her sisters. Her popular interpretation of Aunty Gloria’s Bush Medicine Leaf design is greatly admired for Selina’s long, elegant brushstrokes, combined with fine white dotting to represent the seeds of the Kurrajong tree from where the women collect the fallen leaves for the Bush Medicine Leaf ceremony. As her confidence grew, Selina began to paint her extraordinary ‘My Country’ – combining ceremonial elements of her Country, such as the Bush Medicine Leaves and women gathering to share stories, songs and bush tucker, with the vast journey lines through her Country traversing through the entire canvas.
