Jean Ngwarraye Long was born in 1963 and has lived in Ampilatwatja all her life. She was part of the original Utopian batik movement in the 1980s. She has exhibited in many group exhibitions, including at ArtKelch, Germany in 2015, Flinders Lane Galley, Melbourne (2018) and Suzanne O’Connell Gallery, Brisbane (2018). In 2018 she was also a finalist in the 40th Alice Art Prize (The Alice Springs Art Foundation).

Jean Ngwarraye Long’s design for our Ampilatwatja Collection is called Native Seeds and represents the process of harvesting edible seeds from trees in the Ampilatwatja region. The seeds are ground with a mortar and grinding stone, and water added to create a dough, similar to damper, which is then cooked on hot coals.