Colleen Ngwarraye Morton was born in 1957 into the Ngwarraye skin group. She paints Arreth, which translates to ‘strong bush medicine’, paying homage to the significance and use of traditional bush medicine. Morton often depicts her grandfather’s country where her family hunt and where her mother and grandmother taught her the importance of seasonal medicines and plants. She was one of the original artists in the batik movement that emerged in Utopia, Central Australia, in the 1980s. Recent exhibitions include the Florence Biennale, Italy (2015), Redot Gallery, Singapore (2012) and Batiks of the Desert, National Gallery of Victoria (2008).

Singing Bush Medicine by Colleen Ngwarraye Morton is from our Ampilatwatja Collection and represents a ceremony performed by women to celebrate bush medicine through dancing, singing and painting the body in ochre. This design is about singing to country, singing the bush medicine and edible seeds into existence, and sourcing and maintaining them.