To mark the occasion of the National Gallery of Australia’s large-scale survey ‘Blossom: Country in Bloom’, where works by the Artists of Ampilatwatja are now in the spotlight, Michael Reid Southern Highlands is delighted to present ‘Arratherrk – Bush Flower’ – a new exhibition of paintings by four leading creative forces at the Central Australian art centre: Edie Kemarre Holmes, Julieanne Ngwarraye Morton, Rosie Kemarre Morton and Joyrene Ngwarraye Holmes.
The Artists of Ampilatwatja work from a remote Aboriginal community on Alyawarr Country, where the Ampilatwatja Art Centre, established in 1999, has nurtured a distinctive approach to painting. Rather than depicting Altyerr (sacred Dreaming narratives), these artists turn their attention to the living surface and splendour of Country itself. Their paintings unfold as expansive, multi-view fields, moving beyond conventional perspective to give each element its own presence. Ghost gums rise pale against burnt earth, while wattles, mulga, spinifex and termite mounds gather in rhythmic constellations.
At times, the land is saturated with colour, with wildflowers bursting across red soil; at others, the palette settles into quieter tones, evoking the heat and stillness of the dry season. From a distance, each work reads as a vast, breathing landscape; up close, it reveals an intimate cartography of bush medicine and seasonal growth. The paintings foreground Arratherrk, or bush flowers, alongside the medicinal and sustaining properties of Country and the intergenerational knowledge through which it is understood.
“Artists explore an abundance of plant life with intimacy and restorative care,” note the NGA curators. “‘Blossom: Country in Bloom’ brings attention to themes of environmental connection, maintenance and sovereignty that continue to inform artists today.”
