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Published by CompNet Systems on

My Country Antarrengeny – Lilly Morton Kemarre

The community of Ampilatwatja made a conscious decision not to paint ‘altyerr’ dreaming stories. The artists paint their country where those stories sit.

Lilly has painted her country, Antarrengeny. The brightly coloured flowers and small bushes are bush medicine and are still used within the community.

Lilly’s landscapes beautifully communicate the rich knowledge she possesses of both medicinal plants and country, the heart of her culture.

As a young girl, Lilly lived traditionally off of the land with her family and Alyawarr people. In Lilly’s lifetime, she has experienced and borne witness to the irreversible changes of country and way of life, that were previously unchanged for thousands of years.
She is a kind and gentle elder of the community and often tells stories of how life used to be, in Alywarre, her language, to her family and friends. These stories are also a great inspiration for many of the artists within the community.

Lilly is passionate about nature, especially her country and the plants that grow on it, and though she has little English, she is keen to explain the various bush medicines which she depicts in her paintings.

Categories: Artists of Ampilatwatja

Name: Lilly Kemarre Morton

Language: Alyawarr

Community: Ampilatwatja

Biography:

Lilly’s predominant theme in her paintings is 'strong bush medicine', demonstrating a deep connection to her country. In keeping with the religious laws, Lilly reveals only a small amount of knowledge to the uninitiated. The esoteric information that is held sacred to her and her people is concealed from the public and layered underneath the common visual narrative, masked by the delicate layered dots of the painting.

Lilly inspires all her female relations, many of whom are accomplished artists and she shares her stories about life before white man when they lived traditionally off of the land, and walked with her mother and grandmothers across their country.

Lilly's husband Banjo is the man that led the well-known walk off from Ampilatwatja community in 2010, protesting for a better way of life for his people. The first walk off in 1949 was with a small group of other Aboriginal stockmen demanding wages instead of rations.

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