Audrey Martin Napanangka

Mt Theo west north of Yuendumu. Audrey has painted a typical bush tucker story from the Warlpiri tribal area north west of Alice Springs. She shows a range of different fruit and vegetables that grow in the area of Mount Theo. She and other women go to this place often and gather this produce as it comes into season. She shows the women with typical Aboriginal iconograpgy. The U shapes represent the women as this is the mark left in the ground after sitting down. The oval shapes are coolamons – wooden bowls that were used as baskets to carry the tucker. The linear items are digging sticks used for digging up the food. This combination of I O & U is repeated often in Aboriginal artwork. She has shown different food sources in each corner – with wild bush coconut in the areas opposite the central campsites of the women. Audrey shows the different types of country with differing colours. Her use of multi-coloured dots in particularly rare and gives a wonderful three dimensionality to her work. This painting featured in the Indigenous Law Bulletin published by the Indigenous Law Faculty, University of NSW in 2008.