I still hunt my Grand Mothers country for goanna, bush medicine and yams.
I hunt all year round, hunting and walking through the country makes me happy. When I look at the distant hills I can feel my grandmother. Bush flowers are everywhere.
Painting and printing my grandmother’s country reminds about those times.
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.
Jessie’s landscapes beautifully communicate the rich knowledge she possesses of medicinal plants and country, the heart of her culture.
Jessie’s has painted her country, Ampilatwatja. The brightly coloured flowers and small bushes are bush medicine and are still used within the community.
Jessie’s predominant theme in her paintings is ‘strong bush medicine’, demonstrating a deep connection to her country. Her work pays homage to the significance and use of traditional bush medicine, allowing an insight into her community. Yet underneath the iridescent surface, there is an underlying sense that there is more to this landscape than meets the eye. In keeping with the religious laws, Jessie reveals only a small amount of knowledge to the uninitiated.
The community of Ampilatwatja made a conscious decision not to paint altyerr (dreaming stories). The artists paint their country where those stories sit.
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.
Anhelengkw (emu) dreaming is the breast body painting depicting the story of the mother emu who runs away and leaves the father emu to look after the eggs until they hatch, he then raises the chicks.
This story is passed down through Maisie’s family and celebrated in dance.
Anterrengeny is my Father’s country. I paint the country that I come from, the beautiful landscapes and the many colours as they change during the session.
Kwetyaylp (donkeys) and nantew (horses) would come and drink from the water at Spring Creek on my father’s country. We would put a bucket in the sand we would filter the water so we could drink it.
When I was young girl we would go to Canteen Creek following the track along the hills, we would hunt turkey, emus and kangaroo and we would cut the bark and collect the sap from the sugar bag trees. `
I paint the country that I come from, the beautiful landscapes and the many colours as they change during the seasons.
I love to look at the land and bush leaves. My mother paints, her name is Lucy Pula Luck and my Aunties Beverly Pula Luck, Jessie Pula Luck and Juliet Ngwarraye Morton all paint, they are great painters and I want to paint with them and learn. Bush medicine leaves are my favorite to look at. White flowers, leaves and bush tucker – this is what I want to show in my paintings.
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’s fine dot technique requires a lot of time and patience, communicates the pride and passion she has for her paintings and her country.
The community of Ampilatwatja made a conscious decision not to paint altyerr (dreaming stories). The artists paint their country where those stories sit.