Stories are told of the Kaliny-kaliny or Honey Grevillea flower which is a favourite bush food of the Anangu Pitjantjatjara (people). Ultukunpa grows in the sandy soils on the plains. The flowers can be picked and placed in a billycan of water to create ‘honeywater’ (cordial) or they can be sucked for their sweet honey dew.
Artists use this title when they are depicting their Country. It might be a representation of a particular place or of different aspects of that area. The artist uses a combination of colour and design to indicate variations in the landscape. Inspiration is drawn from all elements of Country and might include bush tucker, water holes, meeting places, rock formation, birds or animals.
Mr Jack was a stockman. He likes to tell stories about his time as a stockman on nearby cattle stations and as a young fella working on the sheep station at the Ernabella Mission. Mr Jack says about those days ‘good memories! good times! a time staying strong in my heart’. His artwork pays tribute to the stockmen sitting around a campfire drinking a kapati (cup of tea) and telling stories like Mr Kulyuru’s time at the rodeo in Alice Springs or Mr Ingkatji on his horse and cart.
The title of this painting is Ten Rainbow Serpent Stories.
These ten places are for Anangu (people) to drink, wanampi drink separately. Wanampi do not walk like Anangu, they move like a whip. The wanampi mother and father stay separately, not going anywhere, but the tjitji tjuta (many children) are playing around them. They make friends.
There is a story of deep significance to women which contains metaphorical references to female cycles. It tells of two women travelling north. The pair meet with a group of women, including Kutungu, who are caring for a man who then passes away. They then travel to the area known as Mantaruta, near Uluru, where they chase a curious wanampi (serpent) deep into the ground while trying to catch him. They burn their body hair to attract him and hit him on the head and run away. From afar they throw a manguri/traditional head-ring for carrying which also hits him. He then comes and hits the women who travel on bleeding and hurt.
Travelling around getting bush tucker near my home. From when I was a tjitji (child) collecting mai (food). Travelling from home, not today but a long time ago. I would go with my family, friends, with tjitji tjuta (many children).
Tanmata or bush onions are found near creek beds on the Aṉangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara (APY) Lands in the remote northwest of SA. Aṉangu bake the small bulbs in hot ashes and then remove the outer papery covering (nyiri) before eating them.
Until comparatively recently, bush foods were the primary source of sustenance for Aṉangu Pitjantjatjara. Many bush foods are still gathered regularly, almost exclusively by women, and they therefore 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.
This is Malpiya’s mother’s country near Kanpi on the APY Lands. Malpiya’s mother was born here at one of the waterholes. The kalaya (emu) is the creation being that formed this land. Malpiya’s design is a depiction of the kalaya walking around looking for mai (food) and water in the rockholes.
Tjukurpa Mulayangu is a men’s law place. This is Atipalku’s father’s country in the western part of the Aṉangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara (APY) Lands in South Australia. Mulayangu was a wanampi (water snake) who travelled all over this area creating rockholes.
In 2020 Atipalku and her family travelled to this area and stayed at their homeland, Tangkana, for the first time in many years. Atipallku was able to show her children and grandchildren this special place and share stories with them that had been passed down to her.
This painting depicts Atipalku’s father’s country with tjanpi (grass) and many tjukula (waterholes).
Michelle’s father’s country is tjala tjukurpa (honey ant dreaming). Michelle and her family still visit this country where she pays special attention to the natural elements on the land which are then represented in her paintings:
I am painting the landscape from above, as you might see it from an airplane or as a bird looking down. It is beautiful country both from on the ground and up above.
In Michelle’s work she creates how the tjala (honey ants) tunnel though the sandy soil. She also depicts the waterholes, the assemblages of trees and shrubs and the country that is ‘quiet’.
Tjala or honey ants live in nests about a metre underground beneath mulga trees, and they are a highly favoured food source. The tjala tunnels that lead down to the ants’ nests are called nyinantu, and the larvae are called ipilyka-ipilyka. After the rain when the ground is soft the women go digging for tjala by looking for the drill holes under the trees. They then use shovels and crowbars to dig down following the tunnels to find the tjala inside. Anangu suck the delicious rich honey-like liquid from the distended abdomen of the tjala. The story of the tjala is told across the Northern Territory into South Australia and is an important link between Anangu mythology and inter-dependence on the environment.