Rachael is a member of a renowned family of Ernabella artists. Her mother is Yurpiya Lionel, her grandmother was senior painter Pantjiti Lionel (dec) and her sister Alison is also a highly regarded artist.
Rachael was born in Alice Springs and she attended Ernabella Anangu School and before beginning to paint at Ernabella Arts in 2006. She has four children, one of whom is a young emerging artist, Vennita Lionel. Rachael paints the messages and stories she receives through her dreams.
In 2016 Rachael worked alongside six other Ernabella artists to create a collaborative ceramics installation for the Indigenous Ceramics Art Award at the Shepparton Art Museum. The work was subsequently acquired by the National Museum of Australia and featured in “Songlines: Tracking the Seven Sisters”, an exhibition that is touring internationally. Rachael was a finalist in the 2016 and 2023 Telstra NATSIAA Awards.
Rachael says: I’m always thanking my grandmother that she taught us by giving us knowledge. Pantjiti Lionel and Niningka Lewis they showed us how to paint. When they were here in the art centre a long time ago (over 20 years ago) Alison and I were sitting down doing nothing and our grandmother said ‘I want you two to listen to me before I’m gone. What can you do when I’m gone? You’ve got to start doing your work and looking for something special to do’. And so now I’m very happy because it’s come from them.
I started painting one design same like the other artists and my grandmother said ‘No, not like that. You’ve got to feel it in your heart, not from your head, from your heart’.
I started painting this way and it just kept going and I can’t believe it. It started from a dream and now its become real on canvas. I love my work and I want to keep doing this.
