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Published by CompNet Systems on

Bush Medicine Plants

“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.

Categories: Artists of Ampilatwatja

Name: Danielle Ngwarraye Turner

Language: Alyawarre

Community: Ampilatwatja

Biography:

Danielles’ painting style demonstrates a deep connection to her country, her bushes and wild medicine flowers are brightly painted onto the earth and the artist often employs a bold palette. Artists from Ampilatwatja often omit the sky from their compositions, allowing the viewer's eye to scan the landscape without a focal point, presenting two viewpoints of the country, combining an aerial and frontal view in the one composition.

The Artists of Ampilatwatja community was established in 1999 near Alice Springs in the Northern Territory. The work produced by the artists is recognisably distinct from other Aboriginal artistic communities, due to the application of fine dots and the often bright and child-like figurative depiction of the land.

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