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Nyalpi Punu Ilykuwara (Leaf of Witchetty Tree)

Favourite bush foods of Anangu Pitjantjatjara include maku (witchetty grub). Until recently, bush foods were the primary sustenance for Anangu Pitjantjatjara. Many bush foods are still gathered regularly almost exclusively by women, thus they feature strongly in women’s mark making. Women learn the art of gathering each of the foods from a young age and much inma (ceremony) relates to these practices and the maintenance of supply. Anangu say that eating maku is good for the brain and mental health.

Maku live in the ilykuwara tree, or witchetty bush, a tall shrub or a small tree. The maku live in the roots of the ilykuwara and this design is a depiction of its leaves.

Categories: Ernabella Arts Inc.

Name: Janice Stanley

Language: Pitjantjatjara

Community: Pukatja

Biography:

Janice is the third generation of Stanley women to create artwork at Ernabella Arts. She is an early career painter and ceramic artist. Her grandmother is founding artist and traditional healer Tjariya Stanley and her aunts are senior artists Alison Milyika Carroll and Renita and Inawinytji Stanley.

When Janice was still at school she would come into the art centre and watch her grandmother and aunties creating artworks. After finishing school she was part of a circus troupe that went on excursion to Christmas Island off the coast of WA. It was there that Janice learnt about lakes. She also saw them from the air for the first time, and that became the inspiration for her paintings.

Janice lives in Pukatja with her husband and has two children.

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