Mandy White’s star is on the rise.

Renowned for her vibrant creatures – human, animal and mythical – which shimmer with luminous colour (and sometimes glitter), Mandy White has already had many successes in her 15-year career.

The prolific, award-winning Yamatji artist has exhibited at the likes of Sculpture by the Sea, Fremantle Arts Centre’s “Revealed” exhibition and Midland Junction Arts Centre. You can see her shiny happy bush creatures outside Midland Gate Shopping Centre, commissioned by the centre and DADAA in 2019. In 2021 Mandy’s work Creatures of the Crystal Caves won her the Joondalup Invitation Art Prize, which included a $25,000 cash award, and other works have been acquired by the Art Gallery of Western Australia and the City of Stirling.

But 2024 might just be her most exciting year to date. This month Mandy will travel to New York, where her work will be exhibited at the prestigious Outsider Art Fair at the Metropolitan Pavilion in New York City. Just a week before she heads off, she’ll attend the official launch of her work Day Creates at Aesop’s flagship Perth City store.

A poster banner version of the sun-and-surf themed work will hang in the Aesop shop window throughout Perth Festival, thanks to a collaboration between DADAA, Perth Festival and the Aesop Foundation. With its menagerie of creatures bathed in sunlight, Day Creates is a perfect fit with Perth Festival’s 2024 theme Ngaangk (Sun).

Mandy’s vibrant creatures are cartoon-like, their googly eyes and technicolour coats just a little bit monstrous. Originally depicted in acrylic, ink, glitter and paint pen, they seem poised to leap off their canvas.

Created during an artistic residency at Wadjemup/Rottnest, Day Creates was part of Mandy’s 2022 exhibition, “Mandy’s World”, which was presented at the DADAA (Disability in the Arts, Disadvantage in the Arts, Australia) Gallery in Fremantle.

It was at DADAA that Mandy found her calling as an artist, aged 30, explains her sister Michelle, an executive producer at Community Arts Network who also supports Mandy’s career. Mandy has an intellectual disability and autism and began attending art classes run by DADAA as respite for her mother who had a long-term illness that eventually led to her passing.

The liveliness, energy and joy that radiates from Day Creates is typical of Mandy’s work, says Michelle.

“Mandy loves colour. She’s always been drawn to things that are vivid and bright and sparkly. She’s lowkey obsessed with all things Disney and Pixar and her fondness for collecting animatronic toys is bordering on obsession!”

Mandy is also known for her confidence in mark-making and her unique representations of animals, people and imagined creatures, says Michelle.

“Many of the characters and creatures she brings to life on canvas are inspired by cultural stories shared by our mother. The telling of these stories through imagery became even more important to her after the passing of our mum.

”Mandy is intensely proud of our Yamatji heritage. Family is everything to her and it's her dream to one day to do a road trip back to Badimia country where our old people were born and lived, inspiring more of our stories to canvas.”

Less than a week after the Aesop launch, Mandy’s work will be showcased by Emilia Galatis Projects at the annual Outsider Art Fair, at the Metropolitan Pavilion in New York City. Running for over 30 years, the Outsider Art Fair is a celebration of the work of self-taught and “outsider” artists. Thanks to an International Travel Fund grant from Creative Australia, Mandy will be attending the fair, supported by Michelle.

“Emilia has mutual friends with Mandy and has been watching her career grow,” says Michelle. “When Emilia approached us to be a part of this international showcase Mandy was overcome with joy – and emotion. She said, ‘Mum would be so proud.’

When Mandy returns from New York, she’ll be working with long-time collaborator Natalie Scholtz, a South African/Persian contemporary artist, on a new project for Community Arts Network. Entitled High VisAbility, the project will see Mandy and Natalie co-lead workshops for students with disabilities at Sir David Brand School. During the workshops Mandy, Natalie and the students will create artworks that will be presented at a group exhibition to be held at the 2024 Awesome Festival.

“The only thing Mandy loves more than doing art, is making art with others,” says Michelle. “Mandy and Natty have a strong history of working together and they have a beautiful working dynamic. They are playful and bounce off each other and Natty has a way of introducing new techniques to Mandy that she absolutely soaks up. It's wonderful to watch these two artists at play and the students at Sir David Brand School are in for a whale of a time!”

The fact that Mandy was born with intellectual disability and was later identified as having autism is important in relation to High VisAbility, says Michelle, because it’s a project about possibility, about enabling students, as well as their teachers, families and carers, to see pathways into the arts for people with disabilities.

“For all of her school life, Mandy attended a school for children with special needs,” says Michelle. “She has the same lived experience as the students at SDBS and she will be an incredible role model for the young people involved in this community art project.

“It’s a cliche, but it’s true. You can’t be what you can’t see. Mandy wants to inspire young people with disabilities to follow their dreams…. Mandy and Natty together want to help students express themselves through creative engagement. Every child who wants to participate will be guided through the process of creating a giant collaborative artwork that responds to the provocation: Art gives meaning to our lives and helps us understand the world.”

Find out more about CAN’s new project High VisAbility.

Check out Mandy White’s work Day Creates at Aesop’s Hay Street Mall store until the close of Perth Festival, Sunday 3 March 2024.

You can follow Mandy's adventures in NYC on Facebook.