Grass Seed by Kylie Kemarre (SOLD)

Painted on a Matisse Skin Tone Light background with colours created by Kylie.

Designs depict a small 'grass' like herb called pigweed or munyeroo (Portulaca oleracea). On it grow small yellow-orange flowers and pods that produces copious amounts of small black seeds. These seeds were very important to the Alyawarr people for grinding into a flour.

The seeds must be collected at a critical time when the stems change from green to pink; if collected too soon they risk being immature, if collected too late they fall to the ground making collection too difficult. During this time, large quantities of the pigweed would be collected and piled onto cleared ground near the community. They would be left to dry and when the seeds fell to the ground they were gathered in heaps and cleaned. After cleaning, the seeds were roasted and ground, often mixed with water and consumed as a raw paste or patty or cooked. Not known to be a delicious food, it is extremely nutritious. 

About the artist:
Name: Kylie Kemarre
Skin name: Kemarre
Language group: Alyawarr
Country: Irrwelty
Lives: Utopia, Central Australia

• Medium: Synthetic polymer paint on canvas
• Background colour: Black
• Size of painting: 30cm x 30cm
• Canvas size: Approx 36cm x 36cm
• This painting comes unstretched and rolled in a tube.
• This painting comes with a Certificate of Authenticity and artist profile.