SILVIA HEFFERNAN - Bush Tucker

SILVIA HEFFERNAN

TITLE: BUSH TUCKER (Witchety Grub, Bush Tomato, Honey Ant)

SILVIA HAS SIGNED THE PAINTING AND A PHOTO WILL BE PROVIDED

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Born: Ltyentye Apurte (Santa Teresa), Northern Territory
Language: Eastern Arrernte
Known as: Silvia Heffernan, Sylvia Heffernan
Dreamings: Bush Tucker

Silvia Heffernan is an Eastern Arrernte artist from Ltyentye Apurte (Santa Teresa), a small community about 80 kilometres south east of Alice Springs. The name Ltyentye Apurte means stand of beefwood trees. The women of this community have been painting together since the late 1980s and are known for bright colour and very fine, tightly packed dot work.

Silvia paints within that tradition but brings in her own figurative style. Alongside the dotted circles and borders, she paints the plants, fruit and creatures of her country as clear, outlined shapes set into the dots, so each one stands out on the canvas.

Her paintings centre on bush tucker, the foods women gather on Country and the knowledge of where and when to find them. She works slowly, dot by dot, and her finished pieces are full of detail that rewards a close look.

DREAMINGS

Bush Tucker - Bush tucker is the food gathered from the land, and knowing where to find it, when it is ready and how to prepare it is knowledge passed down from grandmothers and mothers to daughters. In this painting Silvia shows three foods. Witchetty grubs are the large, pale grubs that live in the roots of the witchetty bush and other acacias; women dig down to the roots to pull them out, and they are eaten raw or lightly cooked in hot ashes. Bush tomato is a small fruit from a low shrub with soft grey green leaves that springs up after fire and rain; the fruit dries on the bush into a sweet morsel much like a raisin. Honey ants live in deep nests in mulga country, where some of the workers store nectar in their swollen golden bodies; women dig down, often a metre or more, to reach them, and the sweet honey is a much loved treat.

This painting was purchased directly from Silvia.

She has signed the work, a photo of Silvia with her painting will be provided, and a gallery certificate of authenticity will be provided with the sale.