Artist: Karen Bird Ngale
Title: Alpar Rat – Tail Plant
Area: N.T.
Medium: Acrylic on Canvas
Size: 100cm x 120cm
Unstretched
Certificate of Authenticity included with painting
Artwork: Karen Bird is a younger women artist from Ilkawerne Country and the daughter of Lindsay Bird, a senior elder and prominent Utopia artist. Through cultural teaching by the senior women, Karen and the younger women learn the stories, songs and dances associated with the ceremony, as well as the themes they are permitted to paint.
This work depicts the Alpar (rat-tail Plant) Seed Story, an important Dreamtime story passed down through generations of Ilkawerne women. Alpar is a small, erect herb that is sticky to touch and strongly scented with citrus. Its clustered flowers form long, spiky stems resembling a rat’s tail, while the plant produces small, shiny black seeds.
Karen’s intricate dot work represents the dried black Alpar seeds, ready to be collected. Traditionally, the women gathered the seeds, crushed them and used them to make damper (bread). The plant was also valued for its medicine properties and used in the preparation of ointment.
Through her painting, Karen preserves and shares a story of Country, women’s knowledge, ceremony and the traditional gathering and use of an important plant. The work reflects the enduring connection between culture knowledge, the land and generations if Ilkawerne women.
