Bush Hen Dreaming 2000 by Abie Kemarre Loy 91x31cm 5349AL

In the wonderfully joyous artwork "Bush Hen Dreaming, 2000," by Abie Kemarre Loy, a vibrant and moving surface of delicate dotting captures the essence of the bush seeds scattered across the land, the preferred food of the female Bush Hen (Bush Turkey or Bustard), Abie's Dreaming Ancestor. Abie Loy inherited the rights to this Bush Hen Dreaming from her grandfather, a lineage that deeply connects her to the ancestral stories of her people.

The Bush Hen, in its quest for bush tomatoes, or arkityira, traversed the ancestral country known as Artenya. These yellow fruits, from the native solanum plant, are found scattered widely across the landscape, symbolising the rich connection between the land and its inhabitants. The Eastern Anmatyerre people of Utopia, where Abie hails from, continue to honour the Bush Hen Ancestor through traditional ceremonies, including songs and dances. They adorn their bodies with natural ochres in sacred designs, applied with their fingers, in a ritual that culminates at the Utopia site near Mosquito Bore.

Abie Loy Kemarre’s delicate and intricate paintings reflect the enduring celebration of the Women’s Dreaming story, capturing the spiritual and cultural significance of the Bush Hen Dreaming in her Utopia homeland.