Menang artist Tom Dimer shares culture, country and history through art inspired by grandmother Bella Kelly

Tom Dimer was in awe as a young boy watching his grandmother, Bella Kelly, create her stunning depictions of the Great Southern landscape they called home. A proud Menang Noongar man, Dimer remains inspired by his late grandmother to practise and preserve the landscape style of art she made famous. Dimer sat down with Inspire this week to share his journey through art and culture. Originally from Mt Barker and now living in Albany, Dimer said art had always been a part of his life. “I was very fortunate to grow up around (my grandmother) watching her paint,” he said. “I would just lay there and watch her create. I was like ‘woah, that’s amazing’ — and I’ll always remember that, it’s what inspires me to keep going and keep painting. “Art has always been something very close to me.” Dimer’s main style of landscape art is similar to Bella Kelly’s but with a personal flair. “The landscapes are a bit of a different technique and I suppose over the years I’ve had to work on it,,” he said. “I try my best to incorporate a contemporary style, my own style, but the influences of my own family are well and truly there.” In 2018, he painted a mural at North Albany Senior High School to give back to his community. “Living in the Mt Lockyer area growing up, I just wanted to give back,” he said. “I worked at Clontarf for five years working with the kids. I wanted to see them give something to the school that’s always going to be there. “It sends a message of unity between the students at the school who’ll look at it and understand that being together and moving into future is the way to go ... that’s the end goal.” With one of his most recent paintings resting in front of him, Dimer described Bella Kelly as an artist who “broke a lot of barriers for Noongar people”. “Growing up, she faced all sorts of challenges in society as a young Aboriginal woman,” he said. “For her to be able to produce what she did at the same time using her talent to provide for her family was amazing. “She was happy to sell her paintings to farmers just so she could put food on the table for her kids.” Dimer, like others, believes his grandmother heavily influenced the artwork of the famous child artists of Carrolup. Children led an institutionalised life at the Carrolup Native Settlement, 40km from Katanning. “Nan was working at Carrolup before it became a mission, she was the kitchen hand there,” Dimer said. Dimer said his grandmother had to leave after her own children were sent there. “I believe that’s where the influence crept in, through her kids and her being there handing down some of that style to the kids that were there,” he said. In 1947, a small group of boys aged seven to 14 started to attract attention at the Katanning Agricultural Show and then in Perth for their “remarkable” landscape art. Their work went global, giving international audiences a newfound appreciate for Australian Aboriginal art. Dimer outlined memories from his childhood when he would watch Ms Kelly would draw in the sand around the campfire. “She would do it while she was just sitting there listening to all the stories, the fellas talking, then she’d wipe it out and start again,” he said. The father of five recently started working for Great Southern Aboriginal Health helping to promote COVID-19 vaccinations for Aboriginal people. “I had the opportunity to use some of my artwork for GSAH and promoting COVID vaccinations, I’ve got some of my work on the shirts to spice it up a bit,” he said. “Any way I can utilise my art to get positive outcomes has always interested me.” Dimer said he felt privileged to live in the Great Southern and be able to share his connection to country through art. “Seeing the love from my people and my family for country and to put it on canvas, that connection we have as Aboriginal people to country is so vital to us,” he said. “I hope we can inspire a lot of others to pick up the paintbrush and harness their natural talent.”