My name is Sharon Karpany and I am a proud and strong Ngarrindjeri woman, mother and grandmother. My people come from the South East of South Australia from a little place we call Raukkan, it sits 80 kilometres away from South Australia’s capital city – Adelaide.

From a very young age art was my  passion from primary school I became interested in art and once I began high school my passion would grow stronger. I started painting murals on buildings and windows and as I stepped into adult life my creativity would lead me in many directions.

I was given many opportunities to discover the different methods of artistry through renovating houses, restoring old vintage cars including caravans – 4 of which I still own, 3 are holdens and a 1964 VW convertible. I enrolled myself into a leadlight course learning everything I could and have created something out of nothing many times over, I love to express my creativity and have been lucky enough to stretch it as far as I could possibly take it from the many opportunities that I have been lucky enough to experience.

In 2021 I volunteered my services to a small Indigenous Organisation called Tiraapendi Wodli where I held an arts and crafts workshop/classes making face masks for our community when COVID was at it’s peak. We started off with 4 women and our group would grow very quickly and in a short amount of time. Being a part of this wonderful, strong and vibrant group was what I was searching for and finally found. We all had one thing in common, we were a group of women going through several forms of loss – loss of our matriachs, the loss of gatherings and the loss of connection/interactions that we all had as children and young adults. Through this wonderful group of women we began to reconnect and gather for yarns and over our morning tea we would have a good ole hearty laugh, connecting with these women gave me a sense of belonging and the sistahood began once again through stories of ancestors, kinship and connection reemerging and flourishing once again.

Through my volunteer work at Tiraapendi Wodli and the love of art I created Ngarrindjeri Dreaming, it is an outlet in which I can showcase my designs in all different forms from, Unique Designed Leather handbags and makeup pouches, purses and tote bags, coin purses, toiletry bags, ties, scarves, polo shirts and paintings in which I can continue story telling in my own form. Through my volunteering with Tiraapendi Wodli and the love of all things artistic, sewing, arts, painting my love for art reemerged and Ngarrindjeri Dreaming became and my love for expression in art and colour has led me to where I am today and my love and respect for my culture and my passion to continue story telling in my own form.