Rosemary Petyarre

Bush Yam Dreaming |  100h x 50w  |  RK488

Not framed or stretched  |  Acrylic on linen

Rosemary Petyarre was born at Utopia, north east of Alice Springs, Northern Territory. She is the sister of famous Aboriginal artist Greenie Purvis Petyarre.

Rosemary was one of a group of Anmatyerre women at the forefront of the art movement in the Utopia area, and was amongst a group of women from Utopia who travelled to Indonesia to learn different techniques for producing batik. Following the Holmes a Court Summer Project, sponsored by CAAMA in 1988-89, she spread her wings and commenced painting with acrylic on canvas.

In her paintings, she incorporates traditional iconography and realistic elements. The themes are primarily bush medicines, yam dreaming and body painting. As a bush woman, she is familiar with her land and its abundance of bush tucker species, medicine plants and native fauna. These are the stories inherited by her, along with important women's stories, and which form the basis of her paintings.