Honey Ant Dreaming by Julie Pengarte (SOLD)

This painting depicts design elements associated with the Yerramp (Honey Ant) Dreaming. This story and designs belong to Julie's countries Ngkwarlerlanem and Arnkawenyerr.

Honey ants are a sweet bush food for the aboriginal people. When hunting for them care is taken not to kill or hurt them so that they can go on and collect more honey. The sac on the back of the honey ant is pure natural honey.

In this painting, the larger, coloured dots represent the honey ant underneath the ground. The strings of small white dots that link them together represents the honey ant eggs, and the arc patterns of dots throughout the rest of the painting represent the holes in the ground where they live. 

Julie Pengarte painting this piece: