Indigenous Canvas Painting - Bush Medicine at the Waterholes (P)

TITLE: BUSH MEDICINE AT THE WATERHOLES

ARTIST: SELINA NUMINA KAMPRINA

Region: Utopia NE of Alice

Language: Anmatyerre

Circa: 1978

Medium: Acrylic on Canvas

Completed: 8 February 2020

Dimensions: W45cm x H60cm

Stretched on frame: NO

Biography: Bush Medicine at the Waterholes • The women come together and collect Bush medicine at the waterholes - the aromatic turpentine antiseptic variety depicted in this painting - are used for relieving colds, flus, ÿ breathing issues and such. It is most often boiled and the resin used in various ways including inhalation or mixed with kangaroo fat and rubbed onto aching bones and sores. The leaves can also be used to wrap around infected wounds to keep clean and reduce pain using natural made string and bark to hold it on. The plant contains antiseptic properties and smells similar to eucalyptus and mixed herbs. It is still used widely today and also features in modern healing or cleansing mainstream gatherings such as premises smokings. Gloria Petyarre was the Utopia artist who initially developed the style and representation of this story

Selina along with her five sisters and three brothers were brought up in Utopia and Stirling Station. Their father was the older brother to the renowned artist Ada Bird, Gloria, Kathleen and Violet Petyarre all of whom taught and influenced all of the Numina sisters, sharing the Dreaming’s and styles of how to painting the stories.

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