Margaret Loy Pula Anatye: bush potato

I was born in the bush at Amaroo Station in Central Australia and grew up in the small outstations at Utopia. I paint stories from my father’s dreaming. These include country, bush food and ceremonial designs.

This painting, Anatye: bush potato (dreaming), is about my culture. That’s my father’s dreaming from his country Unjangola, which is north of Utopia – not too far, but really desert country.

The bush potato vine grows after the rains. The women go out to collect the potatoes using crowbars to dig up the ground. They are then cooked in the hot coals of the fire. They are an important source of bush food for the Anmatyerre people.

- Margaret Loy Pula