The community of Ampilatwatja made a conscious decision not to paint ‘altyerr’ dreaming stories. The artists paint their country where those stories sit.
Lucy paints her Mother’s country and accompanied her mother travelling all around her country when she was a child, her mother showed her the bush medicine and bush tucker
The community of Ampilatwatja made a conscious decision not to paint ‘altyerr’ dreaming stories. The artists paint their country where those stories sit.
“When I paint, I think of the stories my Grandmother Lilly tells me of how she and her family used to live. Where they lived on her country as she was growing up and how they followed their mothers and their grandmothers.
When I go hunting with family for bush tucker and bush medicine it makes me think of Lilly’s stories, the way they used to live off the land, traditionally.
I paint those places my Grandmother tells me about, I paint how I imagine they were and the life they used to lead.” – Levina
Levina’s fine dot technique, which requires a lot of time and patience, communicates the pride and passion she has for her paintings and her country.
“Bush medicine plants are used for healing on the body and for drinking. We make this by grinding the plants with a rock, we use the juice and the fibre of the plant.
We collect bush medicine plants when we are out hunting. Different kinds of plants grow during different seasons.
There are lots of different medicines, we know what their stories are, we learnt them from our parents and we teach these stories to our children.”
Bush medicine knowledge is still strong in Ampilatwatja, it continues to be passed down to the younger generations and is widely used.
When the women go hunting they often gather bush medicine. The plants depicted here are found in the country around Ampilatwatja, they are used for soothing skin infections and to make a drink to help with colds and coughs.
Painting bush medicine stories is important because it helps to maintain a strong knowledge and culture for the community.
The community of Ampilatwatja made a conscious decision not to paint ‘altyerr’ dreaming stories. The artists paint their country where those stories sit.
This painting depicts the bush foods that are found in Alyawarr country, the land of the people of Ampilatwatja, during the Summer months. Bush tomatoes “kedgadrr” and bush bananas “il quarldrr” are especially bountiful at this time of year.
Communicating bush foods through painting is an important way of teaching younger generations and maintaining a strong culture.
The community of Ampilatwatja made a conscious decision not to paint ‘altyerr’ dreaming stories. The artists paint their country where those stories sit.
“This is my country, it’s the country around Irrultja. This is where we like to go after big rain. After big rain there, we can go swimming. There is always good hunting on my country. It is good for me to paint my country and it makes me feel good.” – Dianne
This is Antarrengeny Country, sandhill country, my fathers country.
After rain the sandhills are abundant with flowers, grasses and bush medicine plants.
This painting depicts the landscape filled with Parakeelya flowers (arrwelth), Acacia plants (alekw) and spinifex grass (aywert).
The community of Ampilatwatja made a conscious decision not to paint ‘altyerr’ dreaming stories, the artists paint their country where those stories sit.
This painting shows the layered landscape of Alyawarr, Central Australia. Knowing your country is an important part of living in a remote community like Ampilatwatja. Knowing when and where to go hunting and gathering, knowing where there is ‘soakage’ (where you can dig for water), travelling with family for ceremonies, and maintaining a connection with the land.
“This is my country, my view of country.”
The artists of Ampilatwatja made a conscious decision not to paint ‘altyerr’ dreaming stories. The artists paint their country where those stories sit.
These bush flowers grow seasonly in Alyawarr country, some of which are also used in bush medicine remedies.
“When I go out hunting, I like to see all the bush flowers that are flowering and then when I come back, I paint them.”
The community of Ampilatwatja made a conscious decision not to paint ‘altyerr’ dreaming stories. The artists paint their country where those stories belong.
“My country is called Irrultja, it’s past the hill and the dried-up creek from here, it’s a nice place, my dad’s country too, and my Mum’s country is here in Ampilatwatja. When I go to see my country, we always go to gather bush medicine, we always climb up the hill that’s in the south, we always go there. We like to look out over the land and there are lots of flowers and bush medicine up there. I love my countryside; I see the nice flowers and gather bush medicine for me and my family. I like to paint a mix of wildflowers and bush medicines in all my paintings because it reminds me of my favourite part of my country and when it rains the flowers come out. Yeah, my countryside.”
The community of Ampilatwatja made a conscious decision not to paint ‘altyerr’ dreaming stories. The artists paint their country where those stories sit.
I paint the country of my Father and Mother and where they grew up, near Barrow Creek.
“This is the painting of my Father’s country, where I grew up. When we would go hunting, we always climbed those hills. We would take the kids hunting too and take photos of the hills.”
I use bright colours and beautiful attention to detail expresses the love and joy that I have for the country closest to my heart.