Taminga Connell

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Turning Challenges into Gold: Aboriginal Artist Taminga Connell on Healing Through Art

🎙️ with Taminga Connell

When the life you’re living no longer reflects who you truly are, it takes deep courage to begin again.

In this soulful episode, Aboriginal artist and mother Taminga Connell shares her powerful journey of healing, identity, and creative rebirth. Raised on Country between Halls Creek and Kununurra in the remote East Kimberley, Taminga speaks with grounded wisdom about walking away from what broke her—and finding her way back to herself through art, ancestry, and storytelling.

Her story is rooted in generations of strength. Taminga shares how her family was directly impacted by the Stolen Generation, and how growing up in Halls Creek—alongside the cultural resilience of her grandmother and community—continues to shape the way she moves through the world. Her healing journey is not only personal, but part of something bigger: a remembering, a reclaiming, and a rising.

Today, her artwork—infused with gold, spirit, and story—has become a powerful symbol of that rise. A single breakthrough painting not only helped her begin healing but opened the door to commissions that now see her work flying high—literally—on helicopters across the Kimberley. Her pieces reflect unity, light, and the power of turning life’s hardest chapters into something deeply beautiful.

Alongside her husband Scotty, Taminga is part of the award-winning Kimberley Spirit Tours, sharing the sacred stories, land, and culture she calls home with others from around the world. Through the Kimberley Spirit Foundation, she’s also helping to create opportunities for youth, women, and communities across the region—using art, story, and connection as tools for healing and empowerment.

With a heart as expansive as her vision, Taminga dreams of opening a gallery space that uplifts women, showcases Aboriginal art, and becomes a place of healing, expression, and unity.

This conversation is a celebration of what’s possible when we choose to heal, to rise, and to create a life that reflects who we really are.

If you’ve ever felt the call to start again, to reconnect with your story, or to believe in something more—this episode is for you.

In this episode, you’ll hear:

How painting became Taminga’s pathway to healing and wholeness after years of inner struggle
The powerful meaning behind the gold that runs through every one of her artworks
What it means to walk as a Bunuba/Kija woman and stay deeply connected to Country
Her courageous journey from surviving hardship to building a life grounded in strength and purpose
How creativity and art became tools for reclaiming her voice, worth, and identity
The influence of ancestral stories—and her grandmother’s resilience—on her artistic expression
Why her vision for the future is rooted in unity, not pain
The story of the painting that sparked a new chapter and now soars on helicopters across the Kimberley
Her dream to create a gallery and healing space for women through the Kimberley Spirit Foundation
A heartfelt message for anyone standing at the edge of change, searching for hope and new beginnings

⏱ Timestamps:

01:08 – Meet Taminga Connell: Artist, mother, and Kimberley Spirit
03:35 – The gold in her art: Storytelling, strength, and healing
06:30 – Finding herself again: Art therapy and life after trauma
10:59 – Nyawan: A painting with a message of unity and truth
13:31 – Legacy and loss: The Stolen Generation and family resilience
18:34 – Bravest choice: Walking away and reclaiming self-worth
23:16 – A big vision: Creating space for women to heal through art
26:56 – When art takes flight: From canvas to Kimberley helicopters
39:51 – Her message to anyone starting over: You’re not too late