Wild Figsby Marie Ryder

The painting depicts wild figs. Eastern Arrernte Aboriginal people from Central Australia call wild figs- Utyerrke.

The wild fig is an important food source and is associated with a dreaming story . The women gather the bush fig to be eaten or ground into a paste and left to dry. Utyerrke grows on hills or mountains. The women also used the leaves for sand story telling.

Artist:Marie Ryder
Title:Wild Figs
ID:09021543
Medium:Acrylic on Canvas
Size:91 x 62 cm
Region:Ltyentye Apurte, Central Australia

Artist

Marie Ryder Pengarte was born on the 9th of September 1966 and comes from Ltyentye Apurte (Santa Teresa Community) approximately 1 hour from Alice Springs in Central Australia. She is the daughter of highly regarded landscape watercolour artist Therese Ryder. Together with her eight younger brothers and sisters she grew up at Santa Teresa Community.

Marie first learnt to paint by watching her mother whilst she worked however it wasn’t until her early 20’s that she attempted her first artworks. Although she does not follow the same style of her mother rather opting to depict her Bush Tucker Dreamings and depict a variety of bush foods and fruits found in Central Australia. Although from Santa Teresa Community which has a unique style of artwork depiction called Keringke art she paintings are a modern interpretation of traditional art depiction.

Marie resides in Utopia Community with her husband Kevin Bird Mpetyane who is the grandson of well known Utopian artist Ada Bird Petyarre (who has sadly passed away). Together they are raising their three children in Kevin’s traditional homelands however make frequent visits to Alice Springs and Santa Teresa.

I (Sabine Haider, Director, Central Art) enjoy working with Marie, her artworks are extremely popular and I enjoy speaking with her about her inspirations for her artworks. Each paintings is slightly different from the next. Marie has participated in several group exhibitions with other local art galleries and continues to raise her children and paint.

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