Bush Hen Dreaming | 60h x 60w | RK910
Not framed or stretched | Acrylic on primed linen
Abie Loy Kemarre was born in 1972, she belongs to the Eastern Anmatyerre language group and identifies with her traditional country at Iylenty or Mosquito Bore.
Abie developed her fine skills as an artist at an early age working closely with her famous grandmother Kathleen Petyarre. Kathleen taught her the techniques to create paintings where the delicate dotting created a moving surface of colour that highlighted the structure of her paintings. Early on, she concentrated on the Bush Hen Dreaming story that she had inherited from her grandfather. Abie’s Bush Hen Dreaming paintings further evolved and she began work on bolder, more abstract style around motifs of Sandhills, Body Painting and Bush Medicine Leaves (Leaf).
In this painting, Abie depicts the story of the Bush Hen. The Bush Hen travelled across the ancestral country as it searched for its favourite food, the bush tomato. The yellow fruit of the native plant solanum form into the bush tomatoes, and they are found scattered widely across the land. The small fruits or berries are called Arkityira. She says “This is my grandfather’s story. This country is known as Artenya.” When Abie paints the fine dots across her canvas she is creating the Arkityira, the fruits of the bush tomato. At the centre of her paintings is a circular waterhole with tracks leading towards it. Abie says- “this represents a dry waterhole where only women can go. They hold ceremonies at this sacred site, which is west from Mosquito Bore.”
The expertise shown in her work brought her critical acclaim. She has been exhibiting for thirty years both within Australia and internationally. Her work is held in Australian public collections including National Gallery of Victoria, Art Gallery of South Australia, and Adelaide University Art Collection. She is also represented in major private collections including: Kelton Foundation, Levi-Kaplan Collection, Kerry Stokes Collection, Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Commission Collection and Festival of Arts Foundation Collection.
