Alison Munti Riley b. 1966
23 5/8 x 43 1/4 inches
In this painting, Alison depicts a Wangunu (Bush
Damper Seed) and Ili (Wild Fig) story. Alison depicts the country she knows so intimately, the
precious water sources around which medicinal botanicals and nutritious bush
foods - like bush damper grass and wild figs - grow in abundance. She paints the way bush damper seeds
are collected by women, are ground and shaken in a piti (coolamon, or a carved
wooden bowl) to make a flour from which damper, a bread-like tucker, is made.