Anthea Riley b. 1997

Anthea Riley is an emerging artist from the Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankuntjatjara (APY) Lands of Central Australia. Anthea was born in Adelaide and went to school between Pukatja (Ernabella) and Amata. Anthea’s mother is the highly regarded artist, Alison Munti Riley, who taught Anthea and her sister Amelia the stories of their Country. Anthea prefers to paint with bold brush strokes and colourful, patterned dotting, and is developing her own individual style while learning culture from the older generation.

This painting depicts a favourite bush tucker of bush tomatoes. Bush tomatoes are the fruit of solanum central, a hardy and fast-growing shrub that is native to more arid regions of Australia. These plants have provided staple foods to Indigenous people of the desert for many thousands of years. From vibrant purple flowers, the fruit first emerges as green, begins to ripen to a yellow colour, and eventually darkens and turns brown, drying and shriveling to a “raisin” which can also be eaten. Anthea’s painting style contains a youthful and carefree energy, and she prefers to paint in a bold colour palette.