Rhonda Sharpe Australian, Luritja, b. 1977

Rhonda Sharpe was born in Mparntwe (Alice Springs) in 1977. She lived sometimes at Kwale Kwale and sometimes at Trucking Yards Town Camp where she went to Yipirinya School. Sharpe discovered her interest and passion for making soft sculptures when she followed her aunty Dulcie Sharpe into the Yarrenyty Arltere art room one day. From initially watching and learning from the other artists around her, Sharpe has over the years developed her skills, style and subject matter to reflect her own personal journey. From delicate stitched creatures to figures that depict profoundly honest personal stories full of deep self-reflection, Sharpe is now an artist of excellence.

Sharpe’s work is widely celebrated and has become highly collectable. Her work is held

in the National Gallery of Australia ACT, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Art Gallery of South Australia, Araluen Arts Centre, the Janet Holmes a Court Collection, the Museum and Art Gallery of Northern Territory, National Gallery of Victoria, Maitland Regional Gallery, Artbank, The University of Western Australia, The National Portrait Gallery ACT, and Flinders University City Gallery Art Museum.

Sharpe has twice won the Wandjuk Memorial 3D Award in the Telstra National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Awards and has been a finalist four times. In 2021 Sharpe was the overall winner in the Woollahra Small Sculpture Prize. In 2025 she won the Textile Design Award and 2023 she won the Wearable Art Award in the National Indigenous Fashion Awards. Rhonda in 2025 was invited as a delegate to travel to Osaka Japan, to represent and showcase Yarrenyty Arltere fashion on the runway at the Australian Pavilion at World Expo Osaka.