Bush Seeds

Kathleen's interpretation of her Bush Seed Dreaming is distinctive and individual. The Seed has provided a vital food source for Aboriginal people living in remote desert areas for many generations. Cattle grazing, over a fifty-year period, reduced the prolific nature of this grass. Consequently Kathleen is recalling, in her paintings, the time when its seeds were a significant part of the diet of her clan. As such, important dreaming stories developed around this grass and its seed. The seed may seem insignificant to western notions but for the women of Utopia it holds a place of importance.

About Kathleen

The artist spent her childhood in a traditional way, moving across the land with her extended family. She suggests that she was seven or eight years old when she saw her first white person. Kathleen Petyarre grew up with a foot in each world and became an accomplished English speaker. During her youth, Kathleen Petyarre had a wonderful grounding in traditional life and developed an encyclopaedic knowledge of her country around Atangkere. Birds, animals, snakes, lizards, rock holes and soakages were all basic to her world and beliefs. As an Aboriginal painter she has drawn on that knowledge.

KATHLEEN PETYARRE - WINNER OF THE 13th TELSTRA AWARD

In 1996 Kathleen Petyarre was announced as the overall winner of the 13th Telstra National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Award for her painting “ Storm in Atnangkere Counrty 11”. The “Telstra” was indeed the greatest award offered to indigenous artists across the country and Kathleen Petyarre was delighted.