Kathleen
Petyarre
Alyawarre/Eastern Anmatyerre (born 1972)
My Country - Bush Seeds, 2007
synthetic polymer on Belgian linen
137 x 137cm
PROVENANCE
Commissioned by Galerie Australis, Adelaide, cat.no. GAKP0707514; accompanied
by original certificate of authenticity
Documentation reads
My Country – Bush Seeds (Sandstorm) represents an aerial view composition
of Kathleen Petyarre’s sacred Dreaming site of the Mountain Devil
Lizard in the vicinity of Mosquito Bore on Utopia Station in the eastern
desert of central Australia. It is here at the site of the Mountain Devil
Lizard Dreaming that the men and women of the eastern Anmatyerre language
conduct important secret and sacred initiation ceremonies.
This Dreaming site is situated in the artist’s father’s country
and the general locality is identified by a group of sand-hills that rise
majestically from the desert floor represented in this painting by the
prominent parallel lines.
The painting portrays the area scattered with seeds, summer bush flowers
and spinifex grasses. The sand-hills represents a sacred Women’s
Dreaming site associated with the green pea (antweth).
The seeds (ntang) depicted throughout the painting are of the green pea,
(antweth) that is an important food source, for the “traditional
healer” (ngangkar), and the Mountain Devil Lizard (Arnkerrth).
Sold for $30,000