Untitled (Arnwekety - Bush Plum Dreaming) - Kathleen Ngal

The Ngal women are custodians who paint Anekwetji, which is also called a bush plum. The Anekwetj is a small fruit, sourced from a bushy shrub with small bright green leaves. The various colours underlying the surface of the painting represent the different degrees of ripeness of the plum, which is purple when ready to eat.

These bush plums thrive over the vast flood-out area of Arlperre on average one in seven years when the Sandver River runs a banker after huge storms.

Kathleen's treatment of this bush plum theme derives from her long memory of survival, particularly in those hard years of drought, the internalised anticipation of rain, and the belief that ceremony would help bring the rain and flush of bush food.

Kathleen takes a layered approach to the canvas, and gives it her stamp of validity through her choice of colours. Her final flourish of a white dotted overlay across the canvas represents the sun-dried leaves, seeds, husks and grasses of Arlperre and allows a beautiful pink hue to radiate from the surface of the painting.