Amwekety (Bush Plum), 2001 by Gracie Morton, 122x61cm, Cat 6928GM

"Amwekety (Bush Plum), 2001" by Gracie Morton is a beautifully subtle work, painted in May 2001, that depicts her Bush Plum (Amwekety) Dreaming, linked to her traditional country of Mosquito Bore, 263 km north of Alice Springs. Using an almost monochromatic style, Gracie’s delicate dotting creating arc shapes in the painting symbolise the ritual activities of women singing, dancing, and painting ceremonial body designs (awelye) on their limbs. These designs are applied in parallel horizontal and vertical lines during ceremonies.

The Bush Plum Dreaming site is one of the major Dreamings of the Utopia region. The painting features a profusion of dry seeds from the native bush plum, a fruit that proliferates in the area and grows on a tall, straight, thin, broad-leaved tree, forming small black clusters when ripe. Resembling an olive, it starts green and turns purple then black as it ripens. It bursts into vibrant colour after rain but quickly disintegrates in the intense summer heat. This small fruit, with black seeds, can be eaten raw or cooked into bush damper and is extremely high in vitamin C.

Gracie Morton Pwerle, from the Alyawarre language group, upholds her cultural heritage through her art. Her surname appears in various spellings (Pwerle, Pwerl, Purle, or Ngale) due to different linguistic interpretations.