Reproduced with permission. © Susan Peters Nampitjin, 2024. Photo by Through the Looking Glass Studio.
Bush Potato Dreaming, 2011, by Susan Peters Nampitjin is one of the featured artworks in this year’s 2024 Mabo Library Art Exhibition – Insights: A selection of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art from the James Cook University Art Collection.
Susan Peters Nampitjin is a contemporary artist, who comes from a family of traditional painters from the Tanami desert of the Southeast Kimberley region of Western Australia. She is a descendent of the Walmajarri and Ngarti people who hold ancient stories, Waljirri (Dreamtime) ceremonies, and oral histories of their people who lived around Paruka (Lake Gregory).
Through her art practice Susan experiments with a range of art media and techniques, ranging from printmaking to painting, fibre arts and weaving. She creates contemporary representations of her recollections and experience of Country, and explores the interconnected themes of family, community, history, survival, native plants, bush foods and medicines, which all hold deep meaning for her. Susan has stated,
“I grew up in outback Queensland, in the bush, and have a great love and respect for nature. This has inspired me to paint and draw contemporary abstract landscape designs. An Integral part of these artworks encompass knowledge of traditional Aboriginal lore and culture, family life experiences, lifestyles, and stories that have been passed on by extended families, grandparents, aunties, uncles, sisters, and brothers.”i
artwork on the ground floor as part of the Insights Exhibition.
Bush Potato Dreaming can be seen on display on the ground floor of the Eddie Koiki Mabo Library. The main feature of Susan’s linocut print is the tuber of the bush potato plant (Ipomoea costata) and its plentiful root system. Garnti (bush potato in the Walmajarri language), also known as a desert or bush yam, is a native perennial plant that is endemic to semi-arid and coastal regions in northern Australia. The potato is the tuber part of this woody shrub which occurs from western Queensland through to the Northern Territory, central and northern Western Australia, where it grows on sandy or rocky soils, often over limestone. The plant has broad, leathery leaves and large trumpet shaped, pinkish-purple-coloured flowers which grow on upright scrambling tendrils that give it the ability to creep along the ground or climb surrounding vegetation.
“Bush Potatoes are found throughout the desert. They are dug up with digging sticks for food. Bush potato is sought in the dry, cool season.”ii
The bush potato (related to sweet potato) is a highly valued bush food because of its nutritional and life-sustaining qualities – it’s rich in complex carbohydrates and contains beta carotene, Vitamins C and B6 – and it’s a plentiful food source in the desert during the dry season.
Susan’s lino block, printed in black ink on white paper, has been hand coloured using an acrylic wash, to indicate the realistic colour of the tubers. The line work is intricate, imbuing the work with a delicate weaving like quality, which reflects the artist’s multifaceted approach to her work, that of weaving in knowledge, pattern, and stories:
“My stories are not Dreamtime stories about ceremony or mythology, they are stories about foods and medicines used by our people for thousands of years and can be found in the bush. I am constantly inspired by the landscapes, and the stories of survival.”iii
Formally educated in Townsville, Susan Peters Nampitjin is a JCU Alumni (Bachelor Community Welfare, JCU 1992), and holds a Diploma in Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Visual Arts from TAFE (2005). She first exhibited her artwork in Balgo in 1996 and began regularly exhibiting in north Queensland and Western Australia since 2005. Susan has said,
“Unique, and diverse styles of traditional artists throughout the Kimberley, Kununurra and desert regions of Balgo, Kururrungku, Yuendumu, Lajamanu, Fitzroy Crossing, Western Australia has greatly influenced my art practice, incorporating traditional symbols and modern contemporary design.”iv
Susan has also completed Public Art Commissions in Townsville (2007 & 2013). She won the Cairns Indigenous Art Fair (CIAF 2021) Award for Innovation with her works made with hessian and ochres. She was part of the Murris in Ink Print Collective (2006-2015) and served on the board of Umbrella Studio Contemporary Arts (2021-2024). Her artworks feature in numerous collections, including Artbank, National Gallery of Australia, Perc Tucker Regional Gallery / Townsville City Council, Townsville University Hospital and the James Cook University Art Collection.
Nampitjin’s artworks have also featured in two other Eddie Koiki Mabo Library Art Exhibitions: Winkirr (Dreaming and Reflections of Country) – An Exhibition by Susan Peters Nampitjin (2010); and 10 Years - A celebratory exhibition of works by artists who have previously exhibited in the Mabo Library Art Exhibition (2018).
Recently Susan relocated to Southeast Queensland where she is pursuing her career as a professional artist, with an upcoming exhibition at Logan Regional Gallery in collaboration with fellow artist (and Murris in Ink member) Shirley Yumala Collins in 2025.
i Quotes from the Artist 2018 & 2024.
ii ibid.
iii ibid.
iv ibid.
References:
Winkirr Dreaming and Reflections- JCU Library News, 2010.
Mangarri man: bush potato by Phil Docherty - NIT News, October 17, 2023
Comments