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Catalogue Number: 25/355
This painting shows Aboriginal women heading out to collect bush tucker after a big rain. They are searching for yellow, orange, and black honey ants that live underground. 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.
The grey area in the painting shows the place where the honey ants live beneath the surface. These ants are very sweet, and finding them in the bush is a special treat.
The women are also collecting bush tomatoes, which grow wild across the central desert. When the fruit turns yellow, it is ready to eat. Sometimes the fruit dries on the plant and turns brown in the sun, and this dried fruit 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 the food.