Women & Bush Foods – Barbara Lane (L)

Composition: Classic Cotton – organic (see below)
Width: 140 cm (52 inches)
Weight of base cloth: 140 gsm
The artist is paid royalties for every metre printed
Produced by Flying Fox Fabrics under license in collaboration with Papulankutja Artists
Title: Women collecting bush foods

Story: This painting shows two women (minyma) collecting mai (bush foods). The ochre circles with a blue centre represents their campsite. The U-shapes represent the women, that’s the imprint left in the sand from people sitting. The remaining circles are some of the many different varieties of edible plants that grow in Ngaanyatjara Lands and can be harvested. A traditional diet included fruits and vegetables such as tjarnmarta (bush onion), wakati (native pigweed), kampurarrpa (bush tomato), arnguli (bush plum), ili (native fig), mangata (quandong) and seeds from wakalpuka (acacia) and wangurnu (woollybutt grass). In the division of labour in traditional society women were primarily responsible for collecting mai (bush foods) and men hunted large game.

Papulankutja Artists is a community-based, not-for-profit Aboriginal Corporation governed by a committee of elected members.

It evolved out of the Women’s Centre where painting had been encouraged as an activity for both men and women since the mid 1980s. With the Aboriginal art market taking off it became necessary to establish a legal framework to protect the artists and their entitlements. Papulankutja Artists was born in 2003 and a year later registered as an Aboriginal Corporation with the members governing the art centre. After five year struggling to find a home Papulankutja Artists moved into a purpose built art centre in 2009. The art centre also works with artists in Mantamaru (Jameson), a community 75kms to the west.

The fabric: Classic Cotton is made from organic yarn and woven in a satin finish. The fabric has a smooth surface with a sheen across it and a bright white point making it an excellent fabric for printing. Classic Cotton is a versatile fabric that produces a soft hand feel and gentle drape. Perfect for all types of clothing, accessories and selected soft furnishings.

Printed by: Next State Print in Melbourne

Fabric care instructions:
Gentle cold/ warm hand wash. Do not bleach, warm rinse well, do not tumble dry, cool iron only, dry cleanable (P).