CompNet Systems

Rosie Ngwarraye Holmes – Desert View

This is my view of the desert, the colour and the shapes after the wind has blown the sand

Nancy Pitjara Frank – Bush Flowers

I was born in the bush at Ammaroo Station, along the Sandover.  I have never seen the ocean or a big city. My mother and father were strong healthy people who taught me and my younger sister Rita the traditional way to hunt for Kangaroo, Goanna and Porcupine. 

We know how to gather bush tucker (secrets of the earth) and bush medicine plants.  My mother used grinding stones to make seed damper.

When I paint I think about good memories, being a young girl and walking through the land.  My mother made paint from two stones and showed us ceremony painting and how to sing and dance for ceremonies.  I still sing and dance and collect the bush medicines, I like to make tea from the small purple flowers of Arreth (hill fuchsia).

Painting bush medicine stories is important because it helps to maintain a strong knowledge and culture for the community.

Rita Pitjara Beasley – My Father’s Country

“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 sit.

Alec Pula Lewis – View of Country

Alec was born at McDonald Downs Station. He grew up there with his family living traditionally on the land.  Alec did not attend school, he moved between different communities with his family. 

Knowing your country is an important part of living in a remote community like Ampilatwatja. Knowing when and where to go hunting and gathering, knowing where there is ‘soakage’ (where you can dig for water), travelling with family for ceremonies, and maintaining a connection with the land.

“This is my country, my view of country.”

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

Gunderson Kemarre Lewis – Great Grandmothers Country

I paint my Great Grandmothers country around Canteen Creek. Long time ago she hunted around this soakage in this country. When I paint, I paint that country, the soakage the bushflowers the sandhills and the distant mountains.

I hunt this country now.