Bush Medicine paintings

Bush Medicine Paintings

There are many different types of bush medicines found in Utopia. Some plants, like ilpengk, are crushed, mixed with fat and applied to the skin. Others are boiled and inhaled, slowly chewed, or occasionally drunk. Some saps are directly smeared on the skin, and there are barks that are smoked. Healing rituals are also an important part of bush medicine, especially when the ailment is considered to be caused by the supernatural.

This collection of illustrative works impart tribal wisdom on a selection of bush medicines, and demonstrates how they are still an important practice today.

NATASHA BEASLEY

Bush Medicine | 30cm x 30cm

This is Natasha's country, Ampilatwatja, where bush medicines grow abundantly. They are widely used and the knowledge continues to be passed down to younger generations.

ESTHER hAYWOOD

Leaves | 120cm x 90cm

Esther's beautiful big, bold Leaves paintings feature dried medicinal leaves. These leaves are crushed, mixed with fat from kangaroos and echidnas and the resulting ointment applied topically to faces and hair so that its powerful aroma would linger and aid in the relief of colds.

GLORIA PETYARRE

Leaves | Pair / 60cm x 30cm each

While Gloria began painting Leaves because her Awelye (body paint) paintings began to look like 'leaves scattered on the ground', she is known to have attributed many of her subsequent paintings to medicinal leaves.

It was her mother who taught her how to make a medicinal ointment from these leaves. She would take fat from kangaroos and echidnas and mix it with crushed medicinal leaves.

Bush Medicine Paintings

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