Allery Sandy

Place: Roebourne

Born: 1955

Biography:

Allery Sandy is an artist from Roebourne, in Western Australia's Pilbara region, and a Yindjibarndi elder. She was born to parents Sandy Andrews and Lila King, and is the fourth-eldest of their eleven children. Allery started work as an Aboriginal Islander Education worker at Roebourne Pre-primary School, and from 1990 she taught the Yindjibarndi language as a LOTE (Languages Other Than English) subject. In 2001 Sandy left the school, and became involved in women cooking and sewing, as well as the ministry of the local Aboriginal Church. She started painting in February 2006, following encouragement from a TAFE teacher, Patricia Floyd, who was giving lessons at the Pilbara Aboriginal Church in Roebourne. Allery received national recognition as a finalist in the 2012 National Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Art Awards with her painting Country in Spring. Two years later she won top prize in the WA Indigenous section of the Cossack Art Awards. Sandy was the subject and narrator of the documentary and slow TV show Marni, which aired on NITV on 23 January 2020. She has three children, two daughters and a son, and is the Chairperson of Yinjaa-Barni Art.