Dolly Parton’s song “The Yellow Roses” is one of my favorite songs. I used to have it on cassette back in the day, when I was young, and play the song on my tape deck. Dolly was a Country Music legend, and she was a lady too.
Anhelengkw (emu) dreaming is the breast body painting depicting the story of the mother emu who runs away and leaves the father emu to look after the eggs until they hatch, he then raises the chicks.
This story is passed down through Maisie’s family and celebrated in dance.
I love to look at the land and bush leaves. My mother paints, her name is Lucy Pula Luck and my Aunties Beverly Pula Luck, Jessie Pula Luck and Juliet Ngwarraye Morton all paint, they are great painters and I want to paint with them and learn. Bush medicine leaves are my favorite to look at. White flowers, leaves and bush tucker – this is what I want to show in my paintings.
Yvonne has painted her favourite hunting country after rain. “This is when the storm ants come and make the goannas nice and fat, the ground is soft for digging honey ants and it’s when the bush foods and grasses come up and grow strong. The country is normally bare with small stones and rocks everywhere, but after rain, everything comes alive.”
Yvonne is a tremendous hunter, she is skilled in reading tracks and reading the land. Painting hunting country is important and special to her.
The community of Ampilatwatja made a conscious decision not to paint ‘altyerr’(dreaming stories). The artists paint their country where those stories sit.
When I paint, I think of the stories my Grandmother Lilly tells me of how she and her family used to live. Where they lived on her country as she was growing up and how they followed their mothers and their grandmothers.
When I go hunting with family for bush tucker and bush medicine it makes me think of Lilly’s stories, the way they used to live off the land, traditionally.
I paint those places my Grandmother tells me about, I paint how I imagine they were and the life they used to lead.
Levina’s fine dot technique requires a lot of time and patience, communicates the pride and passion she has for her paintings and her country.
The community of Ampilatwatja made a conscious decision not to paint altyerr (dreaming stories). The artists paint their country where those stories sit.
Anhelengkw (emu) dreaming is the breast body painting depicting the story of the mother emu who runs away and leaves the father emu to look after the eggs until they hatch, he then raises the chicks.
This story is passed down through Maisie’s family and celebrated in dance.
I love to watch the everyday things that happen in my community like the cars being taken up to the tip, the work being watched by people in the community and their dogs by their side. I like to tell the story of of how my life is.
I paint the country that I come from, the beautiful landscapes and the many colours as they change during the seasons.
Beverly paints her Mother’s country. When Beverly was a child her mother took her all around her country and showed her the bush medicine and bush tucker.
The knowledge of the bush plants has been handed down through generation to generation and Beverly still spends time hunting and collecting bush medicine plants to use in everyday life. Taught by her mother and grand mother, Beverly also sings the songs of the bush medicine plants.
Beverly’s paintings are joyous and full of information regarding bush medicine plants.
The artists of Ampilatwatja made a conscious decision not to paint altyerr (dreaming stories). The artists paint their country where those stories sit.