Jeannie Mills Pwerl

Jeannie paints the Anaty, the Desert Yam or Bush Potato. This Dreaming comes from her father’s country, Irrwelty in Alyawarr land North East of Alice Springs.

The yam grows underground with its vine-like shrub shooting up to one metre high out of the ground. It is normally found on spinifex sand plains and produces large pink flowers after summer rain. The anaty is a tuber and tastes like the common sweet potato. It can be eaten raw or cooked and is still a staple food for Indigenous people in the desert, where it can be harvested at any time of the year.

In this painting, Jeannie depicts the seed of the anaty with her dot work and its flower in the brush work