JOSIE PETRICK KEMARRE - ANWEKETY • BUSH PLUM

Josie Petrick began painting in the early 1990s, when some of the first painting workshops where held for Utopia women. By the early 2000s her paintings had found homes in several prominent collections, both private and public. In 2006, Petrick was included  in the National Gallery of Victoria’s important Land Marks exhibition, which raised her profile nationally and led to further success.

Angkwerrpme is the Arrernte word for mistletoe, of which there are many types in the bush, though only three are edible. The fruit of these plants is most commonly referred to as Bush Plum, as well as conkerberry or candleberry. Josie inherited this dreaming from her grandmother, Emily Kngwarreye. She is best known for her works depicting the Bush Plum Dreaming.

In the Dreamtime, Strong winds carried and scattered the anwekety seed all over Josie’s ancestral country and beyond. The Dreamtime plants grew and bore fruit and further seeds were swept up carried beyond.

With intricately layered fields of dot-work, Josie Petrick creates deliberate shapes with precise, sharp edges, softened, however, by the overlap of individual colours crossing borders.