I paint my Great Grandmothers country around Canteen Creek. Long time ago she hunted around this soakage in this country. When I paint, I paint that country, the soakage the bushflowers the sandhills and the distant mountains.
I hunt this country now.
My Great Grandmothers Country is where we go hunting. We hunt arlewatyerr (goanna) and arwengerrp(bush turkey). After the big rains we swim in the river. We look for sweet alkwarrer (bush banana), anaty (bush potato) and akarley (wild oranges).
I am inspired by the beautiful wild flowers that grow there. Being on my great grandmothers country makes me happy and content.
Katyerre are a favourite bush tucker in Ampilatwatja, they can bear fruit for months and are a wonderful snack, packed full of Vitamin C and other nutrients. Every year in summer the ladies in the community collect bush tomatoes to eat and to take in to town to sell.
Communicating bush foods through painting is an important way of teaching younger generations and maintaining a strong culture.
The artists of Ampilatwatja made a conscious decision not to paint altyerr (dreaming stories). The artists paint their country where those stories sit.
Fibre Art is an ancient Aboriginal women’s craft that is still made today using the same techniques as their ancestors. Making fibre art is labour intensive and much care and fine needlework is required to ensure the finished object is both functional and beautiful. Fibre art from Ghunmarn Culture Centre includes dilly bags, floor mats, bush fans, woven creatures found in the landscape, plants such as yams (bush potato), baskets, place mats, and spirit figures such as mermaids and Mukuys. Natural pandanus fibre (Mukarra), is used to make much of the fibre art produced by the artists of Djilpin Arts. Women collect the pandanus by pulling from the top of the pandanus tree, then stripping and drying the leaves before they are dyed with natural bush colour collected from the Beswick surrounds.
Fibre Art is an ancient Aboriginal women’s craft that is still made today using the same techniques as their ancestors. Making fibre art is labour intensive and much care and fine needlework is required to ensure the finished object is both functional and beautiful. Fibre art from Ghunmarn Culture Centre includes dilly bags, floor mats, bush fans, woven creatures found in the landscape, plants such as yams (bush potato), baskets, place mats, and spirit figures such as mermaids and Mukuys. Natural pandanus fibre (Mukarra), is used to make much of the fibre art produced by the artists of Djilpin Arts. Women collect the pandanus by pulling from the top of the pandanus tree, then stripping and drying the leaves before they are dyed with natural bush colour collected from the Beswick surrounds.
Djilpin Arts is a not for profit Aboriginal Corporation that promotes the maintenance, development and transmission of traditional cultural knowledge systems.
For two decades, Djilpin Arts has been working on country with kin and culture, across generations. Our activities are rich in spirit, bringing, healing to the community and linking traditional knowledge with modern enterprise. Our Centre features galleries, museum collection and award winning accommodation for visitors.
Meet local people and artists, learn about traditional life and culture, browse and buy artworks, stay with us and experience seasonal cultural events, tours and immersions.
All artworks are made by local artists living in the community. Artwork reflects the traditional songs and stories that have been passed down through the generations with a contemporary edge: from paintings, prints, fibre art, carvings and dijeridu together to contemporary design prducts and fine woven wire jewellery.
Djilpin Arts is a not for profit Aboriginal Corporation that promotes the maintenance, development and transmission of traditional cultural knowledge systems.
For two decades, Djilpin Arts has been working on country with kin and culture, across generations. Our activities are rich in spirit, bringing, healing to the community and linking traditional knowledge with modern enterprise. Our Centre features galleries, museum collection and award winning accommodation for visitors.
Meet local people and artists, learn about traditional life and culture, browse and buy artworks, stay with us and experience seasonal cultural events, tours and immersions.
All artworks are made by local artists living in the community. Artwork reflects the traditional songs and stories that have been passed down through the generations with a contemporary edge: from paintings, prints, fibre art, carvings and dijeridu together to contemporary design prducts and fine woven wire jewellery.
Wood carving has always been part of Aboriginal culture and Djilpin artists continue this tradition. Men carved wood for many purposes – tools for hunting or gathering food, axes and knives for building shelters, spears and clubs for protection of their lives and territory, objects for ceremony and to mark sacred sites.
Hunting implements include the boomerang, woomera and spear. The woomera is a lever which helps to increase the speed and distance the spear travels. Clapsticks are used as percussion instruments by the Songmen to accompany dancing along with the didgeridoo (mago).
As well as the more functional carvings, artists portray animals and birds in wood, and these carvings are often painted. Ceremonial carvings include spirit creatures including mukuy (devil devils) and mimi.
Some fine mimi figures have been cast in bronze.
This painting depicts Sharon’s Grandfather’s Country, located within Witjira National Park near the border of the Northern Territory and South Australia, just south of Finke. The area is rich with waterholes, trees, and salt lakes — a beautiful place full of life.
Sharon first saw her Grandfather’s Country from above during a small plane flight over Aputula in 2008. From that moment, she began painting the landscape from memory, experimenting with the forms and patterns she observed from the air. Her paintings map the surface of Aputula, tracing the movement of rivers, salt pans, and desert features with intricate topographical detail. Through this process, Sharon expresses a deep emotional and cultural connection to her family’s land.
Djilpin Arts is a not for profit Aboriginal Corporation that promotes the maintenance, development and transmission of traditional cultural knowledge systems.
For two decades, Djilpin Arts has been working on country with kin and culture, across generations. Our activities are rich in spirit, bringing, healing to the community and linking traditional knowledge with modern enterprise. Our Centre features galleries, museum collection and award winning accommodation for visitors.
Meet local people and artists, learn about traditional life and culture, browse and buy artworks, stay with us and experience seasonal cultural events, tours and immersions.
All artworks are made by local artists living in the community. Artwork reflects the traditional songs and stories that have been passed down through the generations with a contemporary edge: from paintings, prints, fibre art, carvings and dijeridu together to contemporary design prducts and fine woven wire jewellery.