Kaylene Whiskey

Kaylene Whiskey, is a Pitjantjatjara artist from Indulkana, a remote Aboriginal community, in South Australia. Whiskey is a contemporary Aboriginal artist who is exhibited in many important Australian galleries and won the 2018 Sir John Sulman Prize at the Art Gallery of New South Wales.

Whiskey is the granddaughter of Whiskey Tjukangku who she used to watch paint and, like her grandfather, she paints with Iwantja Arts.

Whiskey was born and raised in the small community of Indulkana in the APY Lands to a family very involved in the arts and she grew up around the art centre and, as she grew older, she said that painting there was "a good way to keep busy and spend time with my family".

Whiskey has developed a unique style which includes pop stars in bright colours; her favourite musicians Dolly Parton, Tina Turner, Michael Jackson and Cher (who she often listens to as she paints) are often featured in her work.

Whiskey says:

I like to listen to rock music and Tina Turner, and I paint with really strong colours, I put in lots of the special details, and everyone likes it. I paint strong stories too, paintings about heaven and Jesus, and sometimes Mintabie and paintings about my country Indulkana. Sometimes my paintings tell hard stories, but my paintings are always colourful and painting them makes me happy.

— Kaylene Whiskey

• In 2018 Whiskey won the Sir John Sulman prize for her acrylic painting "Kaylene TV"; featuring two of her favourite kungkas (women) Dolly Parton and Cher.
• In 2019 Whiskey won the Telstra General Painting Award at the Telstra National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Awards for her water based enamel painting "Seven Sistas" showing her irreverent interpretation of the Seven Sisters Dreaming (Kungkarangkalpa Tjukurpa) where she casts her own heroic women into the roles. These women include Wonder Woman and Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz.
• In 2019 Whiskey was featured in The National 2019: New Australian Art at the Museum of Contemporary Art.