Anaty Anaty Apmer (Heart Land) : Artists of Ampilatwatja

In Anaty Anaty Apmer (Heartland) 10 Alyawarr artists from Artists of Ampilatwatja, located in the eastern region of Central Australia, have created paintings depicting bush medicine plants and the countries that support them.  Since they established their community art centre in 1999, Artists of Ampilatwatja has carved out a unique place in contemporary Australian First Nations art.  

Rather than depicting the iconography of dreaming stories - as in the paintings of western and much other central desert art - Ampilatwatja painters reinforce their strong connection to Country in landscape form and with a strong focus on the plants used for bush medicine. As the artists note, their paintings depict the country ‘on which the dreaming stories sit’.   However, these intricate paintings are far from superficial view of lands. Rather they contain the information held sacred to Alyawarr, but hidden from public view, underneath the surface. Artists have talked of two broad levels of interpretation, the “inside” stories which are restricted to those of the appropriate ritual standing, and the “outside” stories which are open to all. The paintings also help us, the viewers, to understand that what we may imagine to be harsh and featureless deserts are in fact anything but. Here intersecting the red-earthed lands are watercourses snaking their way through lightly forested terrain. After the rains, the country bursts into life in numerous shades of green, punctuated by magenta, yellow, purple, white, orange and red wildflowers. 

Of special importance to the artists of Ampilatwatja is the recording of these flowers, leaves and seeds used by Alywarr for bush medicine. Representing this subject fulfills several purposes. Trips to collect plants for bush medicine enable knowledge of the habitat and usage of plants; documenting the plants in art enables their recording for posterity and bush medicine itself promotes well-being. 

In this uplifting exhibition, 10 artists are expressing, through their work, what their country means to them -Anaty Anaty Apmer - the heartland which sustains its people, flora and fauna. 

Exhibiting artists; Ada Pula Beasley, Beverley Pula Luck, Daisy Kemarre Turner, Elizabeth Ngwarreye Bonney, Kathleen Namina Rambler, Kelvin Kemarre Ladd, Maisie Petyarre Bundey, Michelle Pula Holmes, Nancy Pitjara Frank, Sevaria Kemarre Bonney. 

OPENING EVENT SATURDAY JUNE 7 2.30 pm
Curators Floor Talk & Opening Drinks:  Bush medicine & plants - the unique art of Artists of Ampilatwatja 

RSVP: info@everywhenart.com.au