Bush Flowers - 122cm x 91cm

Artist: Nancy Pitjara Frank

Size: 122cm x 91cm

Medium: Acrylic on Cotton

Story from the certificate of authenticity:

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