Click to enlargec.1945 – 2021
- Region
- Eastern Desert
- Community
- Mulga Bore (Akaye Soakage)
- Language group
- Anmatyerr (Anmatyerre) – Eastern Anmatyerre
Bush Leaf Medicine Dreaming, 2006
synthetic polymer paint on linen
152 x 92 cm
$6,000
- Provenance
- Grasstree Gallery, Albany, WA, Cat No. GP041GTG Accompanied by a certificate of authenticity from Grasstree Gallery and a photograph of the artist with the artwork.
- Artwork story
- This painting represents the leaves of a special plant that is used to aid in the healing process of cuts, biles, wounds, and rashes, and also acts as an insect repellent. Raised in a remote part of the Eastern Desert and instructed in Anmatyerre law and traditions, Gloria Petyarre participated in the first art programs organized at Utopia in 1977 when 39 years of age. These early batik-making workshops marked the emergence of Aboriginal women artists. Up to this time they had commonly assisted men in the completion of their paintings, but were rarely permitted their own paint and canvas. From the outset their works were informed by the natural shapes and patterns of local leaves, flowers, seeds and grasses which provided the touchstone of form and structure. Gloria’s early batiks were richly colourful and reflected the daily interaction of the desert women with their environment. When art advisor Rodney Gooch introduced the women to acrylic paints and canvas in the early 1980’s a range of new possibilities were opened up that were both distinctively female and without precedent in the Aboriginal art movement. Until this time women had been unacknowledged as artists in part due to a belief that cultural values and iconography dwelt in the domain of men only, but also because women were less forward about discussing ‘women’s business’ such as their rituals, responsibilities, journeying and all important, Awelye or ceremonial body painting. Traditionally, men and women of Aboriginal societies played complementary though differentiated roles. The different yet, equally powerful cultural role of women manifested from this time as a rich abundance of unique imagery and expressiveness that began to ignite interest amongst art collectors around the world.