August 2025

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Bush Tucker

“The background is the outback red sand. It’s my mother’s father’s Country in Yaya-yii. West of Papunya and east of Mount Leibig. Where that creek runs along. The painting talks about inside and outside of bush tucker. The white is bush banana, Ipalu, there’s the two oval shape, one is outside (plain, green), Ipalu, and the inside part (white). There’s Pangkuna. They have stringy leaves and a long curvy pod. Inside there’s the round bean, the pangkuna bush bean with the seed, you can eat that one when you cook the whole pod by laying it in the fire for a few minutes and then taking it out. There’s the three round circles, the akatjiri. When it’s green, you can’t eat that. Only when it’s yellow or brown. Brown tastes like sultana. Yellow taste like cherry tomato. And the tree, it’s got blue leaves, but it’s green leaves in real life. It’s called yawalyurru. It’s got a seed on it, it’s like a blueberry. There’s the yellow heart shape, it’s a pura, it tastes like rockmelon. Inside there’s black seeds. It’s like a pawpaw, you cut the seed, clean it and eat it. But it tastes like rockmelon. The orange, it’s kaliny-kalinypa. I zoomed it in to explain it, its like a grevillia. Long time ago people used to travel on a hot day, they would see all these grevillia on the road, they would tap it on the lips and suck it or chew it for the moisture, and to salivate. The round brown shape with the long leaves is yalka, bush onion. Long time ago people used to go collect yalka, bush onion. It’s found near the lakes, that’s where they grow. The two colours is the opened yalka, inside. The round circles is the bush coconut, wanpanpi. When you go hunting you can collect these, it’s in a tree like a gum tree. They use  that tree for Sorry Business. As you can see the orange and dark/light blue with the leave is arrngali, bush cherry. It’s got seeds on it. It’s in three colours, when it’s black you can eat it, but red is not ready yet.” – Joyce Dixon

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Camels at Kungkayunti

This painting shows camels at Kungkayunti (Brown’s Bore), Benita’s country about an hour and a half west of Ikuntji. They are travelling between the sandhills and the great desert oaks.

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Kuruyultu

In this painting Eunice depicts her grandmother’s father’s Tjukurrpa (Dreaming). It shows the country at Kuruyultu, near Tjukurrla in Western Australia.

Eunice Napanangka Jack, her grandmother, says about the artwork:

‘This is my country. I can’t remember how it all happened, because it happened before I was born. I have a scar on my back from it. My grandfather speared a wallaby at Kuruyultu. That night he ate that wallaby. At the same time my mother could feel me moving inside her. She was heavily pregnant with me. That next morning, after my grandfather had speared the wallaby, killed it and eaten it, I was born. I was born at Kuruyultu, near the rockhole there. I can’t remember my grandfather or my grandmother. I was still a little baby. We left that place, Kuruyultu. My father, my mother, my big sister and my father’s brother, we all left together and went to Haasts Bluff. I grew up in Haasts Bluff. I have been back to Kuruyultu for visits but I never lived there again in my country. I think about it every day. Only my father knows all the stories for that country and he painted them too… all the men’s stories. I know the story of the wallaby mother and daughter which left me with a birthmark. That’s what I paint: the wallaby mother and daughter.’

 

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Claypan at Karrinyarra

This work shows a claypan at Karrinyarra after rain with bush onion (yalka) growing. Karrinyarra is two hours’ drive from Haasts Bluff and is the country of the Napaltjarri women and Japaltjarri men. After rain, bush onion (yalka) plants will grow on the claypan. Bush onion is used for food and bush medicine. Bush onions grow all year round and can be found near rockholes and water sources. Women harvest yalka by digging in the ground with a stick until it is soft, then pulling out the onion.

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Two Tjangalas

“Two Tjangalas who travelled from North to South, from Tjantuwari Watiyawanu-one to Mount Leibig Watiyawanu-two. The Tjantuwari Watiyawanu-one place is east of Mt Theo/Mt Patricia. They travelled from North, came to Tjantuwari Watiyawanu-one to Mount Leibig, Watiyawanu-two. Came and collected all the seeds. As you can see the people sitting, and the circle, means that’s where their main place and the camp is, The Tjantuwari Watiyawanu-one. You can see the tracks from the two tjanagalas travelling North. The second circle is the main community, the camp, the place, Mount Leibig Watiyawanu-two. They have been collecting seeds. They remain there in Watiyawanu-two, Mount Leibig, as two trees. The wavy blue is the creeks, they have been traveling a long distance, through Tali, Karru, Puli, Tjata, Tjanpi, Watiya, everything. Seeing places. Traveling. And they stopped and ended up in Watiyawanu-two, Mount Leibig. Two Tjangalas.” – Joyce Dixon

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Tjilkamala – Porcupine rockhole

This is the story of Tjilkamala – the porcupine man. He is travelling around Talaalpi, west of Kintore and is looking for ants. He digs for them in the ground and creates holes. Meanwhile tracking behind him are women out hunting, hoping to make the porcupine their tucker for the evening. These holes fill with water after the rain and with the morning dew. Over many years they have become rockholes.
This work is the story of Alice’s personal Tjukurrpa (Dreaming) – the Porcupine. The setting is the rockholes in and around the swamp of Talaalpi in Western Australia.

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Ininti at Muruntji

This painting depicts the bush seeds that come from the ininti tree (batwinged coral tree).  The tree is native to the Western Desert of Central Australia, growing in sand around creek beds. The ininti grow abundantly in Muruntji country where the artist has spent much time collecting the seeds. Muruntji is west of Kungkayunti (Browns Bore), the outstation where the artist’s family is from. Both Patricia Multa, and her daughter Virgillia Multa paint the ininti at Muruntji, expressing the colours and movement of the ininti tree and its seeds and flowers throughout the seasons. Patricia remembers collecting the seeds when she was a child and making them into necklaces. The seeds can be found in the sand, or inside the pods still on the trees. The seeds naturally grow in varying colours from dark reds to light yellows. The flowers are equally vibrant, ranging from rich oranges into reds. Ininti are still collected today and made into jewellery at Ikuntji Artists. 

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