116482273315

Published by on

Emu Seeds

In this painting I have depicted the pods of a shrub which is common in the Pilbara area. It is a smallish bush which comes into seed in September, when the Emu is visible in the Milky Way. This is the time the emu chicks hatch and it is one of their main sources of food. When the pod opens the parent emus feed the little black seeds to their chicks. The seed pod, which is about the size and the shape of a cockroach, turns from orange to yellow, so when all the bushes are in pod at different stages, there is a brilliant display of orange and yellow colours throughout the country. The official name of this annual shrub is Senna notabilis, but, due to the oblong, flat shape and the glossy golden brown colour of its pods, it is known commonly as Cockroach Bush. It has a little round fruit, a berry, that starts of green and turns red when it is ripe, but it’s poisonous. The shrub starts off as a light green colour and then, as it matures, it gets darker. The flowers are a yellowy orange and they, too, get darker with a bit of black as they are fading away.

Categories: Yinjaa-Barni Art

Name: Justina Willis

Language: Yindjibarndi

Biography:

Justina Willis was born in Leigh Creek in South Australia in 1981 - "My dad was from Adelaide." Roebourne is her mothers country. She has two sisters, Melissa and Rebecca and now, a little sister, Juanita.  The family moved from Adelaide to Broome and Justina attended primary school and high school there. "I travelled between Broome and Roebourne a lot and then I came to live permanently in Roebourne, my mother's country, in about 1999, and have been here ever since. I started doing art late in 2006 after visiting my family at the Yinjaa-Barni Art Centre and watching them painting. I started to do some sketching and the teacher saw what I was doing and gave me some paint and canvas to paint what I had sketched. I started doing a TAFE short course in painting and design. I love painting. It gives me great pleasure to see the finished work." Justina has a style unlike any of her fellow artist friends and family. She meticulously plans her work to achieve the effect and composition she desires, painting fine stroke and dot work over an abstract underbase of the rich colours that are prevalent in the Pilbara. She cares for detail and precision and her art has a quality that is extremely appealing. Justina experiments with colour concepts and sometimes uses optical colour mixing to create a third dimension to her work. She can work for hours, days and often weeks on one piece. Justina and her family like to go out bush every weekend to spend time at places like Green Pool or Millstream. The bush and the colours of the country provide the inspiration for Justina's paintings. "I like to paint because I go out bush a lot and I can express the experience of going bush in my paintings."

Related Posts

Yinjaa-Barni Art

116482339501

Jiirda (Increasing Site ) This is a special site for our people. A ceremonial place that has been passed down to us from elder to elder. It is a place where people ask for bush Read more…

Yinjaa-Barni Art

116482339521

Wildflower Country

Yinjaa-Barni Art

116482339519

Burnt Country

© the artist / art centre