Bush Hen Dreaming - Bush Leaves

Born into the central Australian desert community of Utopia, Abie Loy Kemarre began painting under the tutelage of her grandmother, the renowned contemporary artist Kathleen Petyarre. Bush Hen Dreaming refers to a sacred song and dance ceremony carried out by women at a dry water hole site. The ceremony recounts the journey of the bush hen in its search for leaves and seeds in the surrounding landscape. Abie Loy Kemarre was entrusted with the custodial rights to depict the Bush Hen theme by her grandfather. Rather than present an unfolding narrative, she focuses on a single element to represent the complex knowledge of bush medicine and vital resources that are embedded within the story. The energy and dynamism of ceremony are reflected in dazzling optical effects, achieved by her meticulous repetition of the detailed leaf motif. The motif is layered to create the sensation of undulating movement, and it radiates across the canvas in swaths of blue and deep red.