Evelyn Pultara, originally from the Utopia community in the Northern Territory, began painting in 1997. She initially focused on depicting more traditional motifs such as bush berries and awelye.
Today, she paints almost exclusively bush yam, an essential food for the desert peoples who consider it a “dream.”
Like Emily Kame, Evelyn wanted to express, with this work, her joy at seeing the abundance of food. The bright colors represent spring, a symbol of renewal. This landscape can also be read as a star map, as Aboriginal art readily blends terrestrial and celestial planes, as well as different times and places in a synthetic perspective. This practice gives the works an eminently dreamlike and poetic dimension.
In keeping with Aboriginal pictorial tradition, this work can be read both horizontally and vertically.
