Marilyn Davies

Marilyn Davies is a southern Arrente woman; she comes from an area south of Alice Springs in Central Australia. Marilyn speaks both Arrente and Arrabunna as well as English however she has a wide linguistic understanding of many local Aboriginal languages found in Central Australia.

Marilyn is a hobbist artist and uses her unique understanding of traditional women’s stories combined with her understanding of wider social issues which affect not only Indigenous Australian’s but the wider population in relation to global health concerns. She brings attention to issues such as drugs, alcohol, petrol sniffing and other substance abuse issues through her artworks.

Using aspects of traditional women’s Dreamings her artworks are fastidious, precise, colourful and resonant. The artwork that Central Art has available is titled “Bush Fire” and represents the essential survival tool that fire has played in the survival of Aboriginal people who have lived in the Central Australian desert for tens of thousands of years. The use of fire has played and continues to play a key role in many aspects of life and survival such as for warmth, hunting, cooking, tool making, communication, land management and bush medicine.