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rraykana, 2025

Thelma Beeton

Paintings on canvas, dimensions variable

Thelma Beeton, a proud Palawa woman, paints with bold clarity. Her vibrant works honouring the Tasmanian Emu, her cultural totem, with colour, rhythm and conviction. What began as a creative rivalry during incarceration sparked something deeper: a practice rooted in cultural reconnection, personal transformation, and strength.

In rraykana, emus aren’t just emus. They’re family, past and present, walking across canvas as guardians of memory and spirit. Alongside them, bees often appear. Once Thelma’s graffiti tag, the bee carries the hum of earlier creative rebellion - part warning, part signal, part signature. Where tags once claimed space in anonymity, they now sit beside rraykana (emu), anchoring her identity in both lineage and lived experience.

Through dedicated research into her ancestry, language, and traditional practices, Thelma’s paintings have become acts of return: to Cape Barren Island, to story, to self. Each brushstroke pushes back against erasure. Each work holds knowledge that nearly slipped away.

This is painting as declaration. Bright, bold, and straight from the heart, Thelma’s work doesn’t just represent survival - it celebrates it.

about the artist

Thelma Beeton

insta: @thebeethelmabeeton