Alvira Bird

Born: 1984
Language Group: Anmatyerre
Country: Ilkawerne (El-go-an-na), Utopia Region, North East of Alice Springs, Northern Territory
Subjects: Awelye (Women's Ceremony) for Ahakeye (Bush Plum), Alpar (Rat-tail Plant) and Ntang Artety (Mulga Seed), Awelye (Women's Ceremony) for Ahakeye (Bush Plum) and Alpar (Rat-Tail Plant)

Alvira is the daughter of artists Paddy Bird (deceased) and Eileen Bird. She lives in Alice Springs and Mulga Bore with her husband and children. Her grandmother is the late Ada Bird Petyarre, a highly respected senior artist from Utopia. The linear designs in Alvira’s painting represent awelye (women’s ceremony and body paint designs) for Ahakeye, Alpar and Ntang Artety. These designs are painted onto the chest, breasts, arms and thighs. Powders ground from red and yellow ochre (clays), charcoal and ash are used as body paint and applied with a flat stick with soft padding. The women, represented by the ‘U’ shaped motifs, sing the songs associated with their awelye as each woman takes her turn to be ‘painted-up’.

Image kindly supplied by Mbantua Gallery.