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My Father’s Country – Rita Pitjara Beasley

“This is my Father’s country.

This place is our hunting place. I always go with my daughters and their children, I show them this place and teach them about the swampy country. We hunt for goannas, bush potato, bush tomato and after the big rain the bush medicine is picked and the roots are dug up to be used.

It is important as my mother taught me this and now I teach my family.”

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

Name: Rita Pitjara Beasley


Language: Alyawarre


Community: Ampilatwatja


Biography:

Rita Beasley is married to Murphy Teece, also an artist of the community, and lives at Ampilatwatja with their extended family. Rita has been painting for a period of some twenty years. She enjoys painting and feels it important for the community. Her artworks show special hunting and gathering grounds, all of which are connected to the dreaming of that country.

Rita's vibrant palette, shifting patterns of pointillism, depiction of plant, geography and light, comes from Rita's intimate a?nity with her country.


© the artist / art centre