Artists of Ampilatwatja

---

---

Regina Kemarre Elkedra – Summer Bush Tucker

During the Summer months kedgadrr (bush tomatoes) and il quarldrr (bush banana) are especially bountiful at this time of year, bush foods that are found in Alyawarr country, the land of the people of Ampilatwatja.

Communicating bush foods through painting is an important way of teaching younger generations and maintaining a strong culture.

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

---

---

Edie Kemarre Holmes – Arratherrk (Bush Flower)

They would use the vine of this plant as rope to help carry coolamon with kids. Make like a bag and carry the kids in this.

My grandmother was called Arratherrk and her sister was calle Pwelk, the leaf of the bush banana.  At Elkedra there is two vine trees and each sister is named after each one. 

---

---

Elizabeth Ngwarraye Bonney – My Grandmothers Country

I still hunt my Grand Mothers country for goanna, bush medicine and yams.

I hunt all year round, hunting and walking through the country makes me happy.  When I look at the distant hills I can feel my grandmother.  Bush flowers are everywhere.

Painting and printing my grandmother’s country reminds about those times.

---

---

Daisy Kemarre Moss – My Mother’s Country

Daisy has painted her Mother’s country, Kngwarraye country. Kngwarraye is one of the four main skin names of Ampilatwatja.

Bush medicine, goanna and many other traditional bush foods are found here. This is where Daisy’s traditional laws lie.

Daisy paints her country to keep her country strong.

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

---

---

Jessie Pula Luck – My Bush Medicine Plants

I was born in Irrultja, my father’s country. I paint therrpeyt, a plant with red and pink flowers, it is my family symbol. You can suck the flowers to get a sweet honey from. You can wash your body with the leaves to heal sores and clean your body. I paint arreth which grows in the rocky ground and helps fix my sore throat when I make a hot tea from the leaves. I love to paint, I feel happy when I paint, I feel busy and good.

---

---

Levina Pitjara Morton – My Country

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.

---

---

Julieanne Ngwarraye Morton – My Country, My Bush Medicine

My Mother, Lilly Kemarre, taught me to paint. She likes to paint her Mother’s and Father’s country from the old days, when they used to live off of the land.

The landscape changes during the different seasons in the year. I paint the dried flowers and bushes from last season as well as the new plants that come after the rain. These plants have special meanings and uses for us. I have been taught how to read the country, and now I teach my children these skills.

Julieanne’s painting’s are inspired by her Mother’s stories of the old days, walking and living on their land, and also of her own experience of life out here in Alyawarr country.

---

---

Kathleen Nanima Rambler – Storm at Barrow Creek

The storm clouds are coming over the bushland at Barrow Creek which is my Father’s country. It is very hot and dry over summer, then the rains come, it make the bush fresh, and the bush turkeys are fat. It is my Uncle’s country –  he can make it rain, my mother’s side have the power to make rain come with their totems.

---

---

Elizabeth Ngwarraye Bonney – Bush Tobacco

Bush tobacco flowers in winter and we harvest the whole plant, let it dry then burn it with white ash from the eucalyptus tree, it’s an old recipe.

---

---

Daisy Kemarre Turner – Irrultja, My Country

I was born in Irrultja and I grew up with my mother, father and sister. My mother was the strong painter Rosie Ngwarraye Ross, and my grandmother Biddy Kemarre was a member of the Utopian Batik movement. My sister Margaret Kemarre Ross and my daughters, Rosemary, Desma and Danielle Ngwarraye Turner are all strong artists who paint and live in Ampilatwatja. We all paint the bright and beautiful wild flowers that grow here.

Irrultja is hill country and my mother and father took me hunting, we hunted kangaroo and goanna and cooked them in the fire in the shade of trees. We collected bush tucker and strong bush medicine – Arreth. We loved collecting the small delicious bush tomato and bush medicines to wash our hair and soothe our skin. I loved swimming and playing with my sister as a child.