Bush Tomatoes, Bush Banana | 90h x 50w | RK416
Not stretched or framed | Acrylic on canvas
Katrena Claria grew up at Ti Tree, a small community approximately two hours North of Alice Springs.
Bush Tucker is a common subject that many Utopian and other Central Australian aboriginal artists paint. Collecting bush tucker (or bush foods) is still a common practice by the aboriginal people of Central Australia, although some of the more arduous forms (such as collecting seeds) is not as habitual now. Bush tucker and bush foods can be depicted in numerous ways in aboriginal paintings. Sometimes in abstract forms, particularly if symbolic to a Dreamtime story in which the painting designs are also influenced by song, dance and interconnecting Dreamtime stories - the whole picture. And other times they are illustrated in their natural form, showing women or men collecting the various bush tucker, not as a Dreaming, but a depiction of daily ritual and teaching.