LORNA NAPARRULA FENCER - YARLA-BUSH POTATO
LORNA NAPARRULA FENCER
YARLA-BUSH POTATO, 2002
38 x84 cm
synthetic polymer paint on linen
REGION
Lajamanu, NT
PROVENANCE
Katherine Art Gallery, N.T
Cooee Art Leven, NSW
STORY
This painting tells the Dreamtime story of women of the Napurrula and Nakamarra skin groups who are searching the countryside for bush potatoes. Bush potatoes grow as roots underground, so the women must use the digging sticks to find them. The crossed lines represent a map of the country linking important sites .
The lines represent the complex root system and branches of the bush potato plant.The circles at the centre of each plant is where the women dig to retieve bush potatoes.The flowered icons represent the plant in flower.
Bush potatoes are a very valuable food source as well as a major totemic item that the artist identifies with in ceremony and daily life.Songs that recount the journeys of the Bush potato Ancestors are central to women’s ceremonial performances.
The artist is a senior custodian for this dreaming which took place at Duck Ponds in the Northern territory Australia.
EXHIBITED
Desert Mob 2005, October 2005, Butcher Shop Cafe,Mudgee
ARTIST PROFILE
