Sabrina Spencer b. 1974

Sabrina Spencer is a Warlpiri artist who grew up in the small Indigenous community of Willowra, some 300 kilometres north-west of Mparntwe (Alice Springs). Sabrina’s daughter, Janine Brown, is a talented emerging artist.

Sabrina primarily depicts two significant Dreaming stories, Bush Onion and Bush Medicine. Sabrina depicts these stories using a reduced or monochromatic palette, and a fine, meticulous dotting style that is typical of artists from Willowra. Sabrina draws from the depth of her knowledge of her ancestral country to depict the features of the land, and the nutritious or medicinal plants that grow around waterholes. Like many artists of the Central and Western desert region, Sabrina depicts her country from a topographic, bird’s-eye point of view. All aspects of these stories are interconnected with each other - honouring the abundance provided by the fleeting or permanent water sources in Sabrina’s country - medicinal and nutritious plants to grow, which in turn attracts other kinds of tucker.

Sabrina is proving herself to be a sought-after artist with a very distinctive op-art style. Through repetition of line and pattern, Sabrina creates paintings with movement and depth, and exemplifies a contemporary aesthetic while representing aspects of her ancient culture. In 2020, Sabrina exhibited at Art Paris.