Born: c.1957, Utopia, Northern Territory
Language: Anmatyerre
Known as: Patricia Kamara, Patricia Kamara Rambler
Dreamings: Bush Medicine, Awelye (Women's Body Paint), Bush Tucker
Patricia Kamara Rambler is an Anmatyerre woman from Utopia, the remote homeland region north-east of Alice Springs that has given the world some of the most celebrated names in contemporary Aboriginal painting.
Her paintings come from the stories handed down to her through family. They show the bush medicine plants, grass seeds, berries, fruits and roots that desert people have gathered for thousands of years, and the Awelye designs that women paint on their bodies for ceremony.
Patricia's early canvases are simple and full of joy, with the same warmth and openness she carries in person. Over the years her dotting has become finer and her compositions more layered and assured. She moves easily between delicate seed and medicine leaf work and bold Awelye designs, making her a versatile painter across all of her Dreamings.
DREAMINGS
Bush Medicine – Patricia paints the leaves, seeds, flowers and roots of the plants women collect to make healing remedies. Knowing where these plants grow and how to prepare them is important women's knowledge, and her paintings honour that learning as it passes from one generation to the next.
Awelye (Women's Body Paint) – Awelye is the name for Anmatyerre women's ceremony and the designs painted onto the chest, breasts and shoulders during it. The lines and patterns are applied with ochre and fingers or sticks, and each design belongs to the women's Dreaming stories for their country. On canvas, Patricia brings these designs to life in strong sweeping lines.
Bush Tucker – These works celebrate the food of Patricia's country: seeds that are ground for flour, berries and bush fruits, and the roots and tubers dug from the red earth after rain. Seen from above, the country becomes a map of abundance, marking the places where each food is found in its season.
This painting can be hung vertically or horizontally.
This painting was purchased directly from the artist and a gallery certificate of authenticity will be provided with the sale.