Acrylic on stretched canvas, ready to hang.
Signed on the front.
This artwork comes with an external frame
This is a painting with special meaning. Recently a good friend was diagnosed with advanced breast cancer and will need chemotherapy. Unfortunately she needs a double mastectomy. She is just 26 years old. A potion of this sale will go to National Breast Cancer Foundation
In traditional Aboriginal society, men and women have distinct but equally important roles, performing specific tasks that benefit the whole community.
This separation of responsibilities by gender is determined by Tjukurpa. It ensures a balance of work underpinned by a strong sense of cooperation.
Women were traditionally responsible for gathering water and bush foods such as fruits, seeds, vegetables, maku (edible grubs) and tjala (honey ants). They also hunted small food animals like tinka (goanna), ngintaka (perentie), kuniya (woma python), rapita (rabbit) and tjilkamata (echidna).
Men were responsible for making tools and hunting larger game such as malu (red kangaroo), kanyala (euro) and kalaya (emu).
Children also had an important role to play in gathering and hunting. They accompanied their parents and other adults to collect bush food, playing, digging and working with the adults while watching and learning.
Aboriginal people spend a lifetime learning rich cultural traditions from their elders.Young girls go with their grandmothers, aunties, mothers and older sisters to learn about collecting and preparing bush food. They learn women’s Tjukurpa and the proper way to track animals, hunt and prepare bush medicines.
Girls build on their knowledge and skills throughout their lives. They learn to craft and use women’s tools like the wana (digging stick), wira (coolamon), piti (bowl) and manguri (head ring).
They collect kampurarpa (bush raisins), ili (bush fig), arnguli (bush plum), parkilypa (parakeelya) and other foods from plants. Seeds from wanganu (naked woolybutt), kaltu-kaltu (native millet), wakati (pigweed), wakalpuka (dead finish) and wintalyka (mulga seeds) are collected, separated and ground to make latja (food paste) or nyuma (seed cakes).
Women know about the seasonal cycles and habitats of animals and plants and how to use plants to create bush medicines.