Alpeyt (Blossom)
Group Exhibition in association with Artists of Ampilatwatja
Twenty five years ago, heralding a new and fresh direction in Aboriginal painting, 20 artists from Ampilatwatja held their first sell-out exhibition. Ampilatwatja (pronounced am-blood a-watch) sits on Alyawarr land, stretching north east of Mparntwe (Alice Springs), it is here that the artists map out the lands to reveal the contents of their country.
Life experience and culture come alive within the artwork produced for their latest exhibition Alpeyt (Blossom). Each painting pays homage to the significance and use of traditional bush medicine while depicting traditional knowledge of dreaming and country through the translation of waterholes and soaks, bush medicines, snaking dry creek beds, mountains and sand hills each painting.
The beauty of these landscapes come from a close association with the land, passed down through generations, grandmothers and mothers teach where and when to find plants, the recipes and uses of bush medicines. The Artists of Ampilatwatja sing to country, singing the bush medicine into existence. Mothers, daughters and sisters, come together at our art centre and paint our own story.
The Artists of Ampilatwatja have painted together for 25 years. Our painting has no borders, just one country. Ampilatwatja is our place, Ampilatwatja is our country.
