Elizabeth Nyumi, © Warlayirti Arts Center, Balgo Hills, WA

This painting depicts the country known as Parwalla, which is Elizabeth's father's country. This country is far to the south of Balgo in the Great Sandy Desert, west of Kiwirrkurra, and is dominated by tali (sand hills). Parwalla is a large swampy area, which fills with water after the wet season rain and, consequently, produces an abundance of bush foods. The majority of Nyumi's painting shows the different bush foods, including kantjilyi (bush raisin), pura (bush tomato) and minyili (seed). Women, shown as the U shapes with their wana (digging sticks) and coolamons gathering the foods are also depicted. The whitish colours, which dominate the painting, represent the spinifex that grows strong and seeds after the wet season reains. These seeds are white in colour, and grow so thickly they obscure the ground and other plants below.
USD $6500

Elizabeth Nyumi commenced painting in 1987 and began to emerge as a leading artist in the late 1990s. Her paintings are mainly concerned with the country of abundant bush food belonging to her family. Initially she worked with a thick brush, covering the canvas in emanating lines in muted tones. Her style has now developed to using a multitude of dotting to build up fields of texture but retains her signature motifs of small camps, coolamons and bush tucker trees and scrubs. Nyumi has had solo exhibitions in 2001, 2002 and 2003 and she has traveled throughout Australia and overseas to attend openings of her exhibitions. In 2004 Nyumi became the first artist represented by Warlayirti Artists to be selected for the Biennale of Sydney.