Seed Dreaming — Watiya Wanu

YET again, Marshall Robertson proves his immense ability with a limited colour palette. Here the seed dreaming has the hint of the DNA double helix, as it's code winds across the land, rendered in his dot hatch pattern. He is a true force of nature, where he proves time and again that he can paint powerful works without saturating the canvas with unnecessary colour.

The Watiya-Wanu grows on open spinifex and mulga country with the Jangala men having an ancestral connection to the harvesting of their seeds, collected from outback country and carried to Mount Liebig for winnowing before being ground to make damper.

The long trek back and the winnowing often takes all afternoon with the work being shared between men and women. Immature seeds are saved to be ground to make a digestive medicine. The ceremonial ownership of this Dreaming belongs to Nampijinpa/Nangala Women and Jampijinpa/Jangala Men with the ceremony also being drawn on the ground in the old way.

Cultivation and appreciation of seeds, the beginning of the life cycle, nurtured by water, is part of the Jangala Family Dreaming Stories.