Anwekety (Conkerberry) - Poly Ngal

Poly Ngal was one of the most senior custodians of her country, Aparra, in the heart of Utopia Northern Territory. Her artistic career began in the late 1970s when she, like many of the women in Utopia, began working with silk batik before venturing into works on canvas. She shared her country and the Arnwetky (Bush Plum) Dreaming with her sisters Kathleen and Angeline. Ngal created her paintings through extensive overdotting in which she built up layers of colour in vibrant depiction's of her country.

The Arnwekety is a sweet black berry accessible only a few weeks in the year. The berries are collect and stored until dried, then they are soaked in water before consumed. The plant on which the berry grows is a tangled, spiny shrub that can grow up to two meters high. After rain fragrant white flowers bloom. The orange inner bark from the roots can be soaked in water and the resultant solutions can be used as a medicinal wash, favoured for skin and eye conditions.

In this work, Poly Ngal paints the fragrant flower in white and uses orange to depict the inner bark from the roots used medicinally. Gradually and deliberately she piles dots upon each other to create a rich, thick field with a glowing palette of colour.