Bush Potatoes - Annie Napanangka Simon

This artwork was created in a workshop conducted in Lajamanu with artist Neil Tomkins and Art Leven [formerly Cooee Art]'s Mirri Leven and Sam Sterneborg in May 2023

This is a painting for the Nakamarra, Jakamarra, Jupurrula and Napurrula skin groups. The bush potato is a major food source and a very important Dreaming for the Warlpiri people. Songs that recount the journeys of the Bush potato Ancestors are central to women's ceremonial performances. This work is a wildly expressive vision of the patternings made by the bush potato both above and beneath the earth ,showing the interlinking tubers underneath the ground as well as the seeds above. Beneath the textured surface of the paint is an underlying design of women's body paint used in ceremony for the bush potato.This painting tells the story of two sites. Two Jagamarra men had a big fight after an argument. This is how the two types of tucker now grow on the bush potato plant. These are Wapitali (the little potato) and Yumurpa (the big potato). Women(U shapes) are shown digging for yam with their coolamon dishes and digging sticks. The bush potato plant is shown with its roots extending outwards. 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 retrieve bush potatoes. The flowered icons represent the plant in flower. They culminate in big bush potatoes however along their length smaller potato tubers are found. This Dreaming took place at Duck Ponds several hours east of Lajamanu. The Dreaming sites that define the area wind through it and encircle the artist's country.