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Catalogue Number: 25/269
This painting shows Aboriginal women going out to collect bush tucker after a big rain. It shows their foot prints in the desert as they search for bush tomatoes. The fruit grows wild across the Central Desert.
The curved shapes in the artwork represent the women sitting on the ground. Beside them are their digging sticks and a coolamon, which was traditionally used for gathering food into. They find the bush tomatoes. The yellow fruit is ripe and ready to eat, the brown fruit has dried in the sun, this is still good to eat.
Knowledge about bush foods is passed down from mothers, aunties, and grandmothers to daughters and nieces. Aboriginal women learn where the plants grow, the right time to harvest them, and how to gather food in a respectful and careful way.