Bush Leaves & Seeds

Belinda Golder Kngwarreye

Belinda’s Dreamtime stories include bush plum, yam seeds, bush medicine leaves and their importance in women’s ceremony from her family’s country. Belinda’s colour palette consists primarily of enriching colours that are either layered effortlessly to create the flowing effect or structured meticulously in an ordered fashion across the canvas.

In the Dreamtime, winds blew from all directions, carrying the anwekety (bush plum seeds) seed over Belinda’s ancestors’ land. The first anwekety of the Dreamings then grew, bore fruit and dropped more seeds. Many winds blew the seeds all over the Dreaming lands.During ceremonies the women pay homage to the spirit of this special plant in the hope that it will regenerate. The yam grows underground with its viny shrub growing above ground up to one metre high. It is normally found on Spinifex sand plains and produces large flowers after summer rain. The yam is a tuber, or swollen root, of the shrub and tastes much like the common sweet potato. It can be eaten raw or cooked and is still a staple food for the desert tribes where it can be harvested at any time of the year. It is also renowned for its medicinal properties. This medicine is used to heal cuts, wounds, bites, rashes and as an insect repellent.

Belinda Golder was born in 1986c in Alice Springs, NT. Her sister is Janet Golder Kngwarreye and both artists are the granddaughters of the internationally renowned, Polly Ngale. Like her family, Belinda is following in their footsteps and predominately paints the “Bush Plum” dreaming, which has gained global attention thanks to the iconic endeavours of Emily Kame Kngwarreye.