Beverley Egan
About Bev
Beverley Egan was born in Mullewa on 21 August 1961. Beverley is a Yamatji woman and speaks the Wadjarri language. She maintains very strong links with her country and traditional culture in the Murchison / Gascoyne Region and regularly returns for family events. Her cousin is Betty Egan and her niece is the well-known artist Loretta Egan.
Beverley has lived most of her life in Perth with her husband (who is also Yamatji) and her two sons. She began painting over a decade ago when she was taught by her niece Loretta and has also worked with Bundi Arts, working with ceramic art.
A well-respected artist, Beverley paints women’s stories and stories from her family’s country in the Murchison area. Her work often depicts women gathering bush tucker, women’s ceremonies, and the strong links between her family and surrounding country. Her work is held in many private collections. Currently, she is painting with acrylic on canvas for several different galleries in Australia and around the world.
Over the past three years, Beverley has worked to help several high profile West Australian companies with their reconciliation action plans by hosting art workshops, team building events and exhibitions. Beverley has completed several large works which are currently displayed in foyers of companies such as RAC, Shell and Legal Aid to name a few. Though shy, she thoroughly enjoys sharing her stories with her peers and the public and hopes to translate her experience effectively onto canvas.
About the artwork
In this painting, Beverley paints the Murchison River which was a significant place of meeting, hunting, and gathering for her family. Turtles are a favoured food source for Indigenous communities and therefore appear as totems and in Dreamtime stories and Creation myths. Indigenous people respect the food resources that sustain them and they celebrate the turtle in rituals that aim to increase the bounty of the species
