Indigenous Artwork Stories
Hunter Scrubs believes in ethical sourcing of Australian artwork - that's why we've assembled this guide to all of the artists and artworks we use in our Indigenous Printed Scrubs.
Konara Kintay Malang "Community Celebrate Together"
This vibrant sand engraved artwork depicts community connection on country, bringing an acknowledgement to traditional custodians across our Nation and celebrating our journey forward together.
Central to the design, (4) connected gathering circles interwoven within pathways of traditional people symbols depicts going forward together around shared vision towards closing the gap for Indigenous people, through Education and Holistic Health. Elders symbols within the design depict passing on of knowledge across the generations and brings a welcome to others to share in celebrating the world’s oldest rich and living culture.
Saretta is a Wonnarua woman of the Upper Hunter Valley through her grandmother and an Anaiwan women of the New England area through her grandfather. Her work is inspired by her love and dedication to her culture, country and community.
“My desire is to share our unique and invaluable culture through authentic, engaging and thought evoking fine artwork and visual design that welcomes all and enhances connection to spirit and country.” Saretta gives back to her local community through her charity, Malang Indigenous Corporation.
Meeting Place
Representing a group of people coming together as a team and acknowledging the land. The circles with the U shapes mean 'meeting place' or 'gathering' — I wanted to make it bright to represent the brightness within our teams. I've also added kangaroo tracks to represent the animals and land that our teams work on today.
Regeneration Pink
Heather Kennedy is a skillful artist, and her works combine vibrant colors. In this artwork she describes Regeneration. After fires, plants regenerate, and the seed pods create new growth which leads to regeneration.
Bush Orange Jade
This fabric is designed based on the Utopia Australia area. Beautiful blue yellow orange cream background with dot representing the bush trees and flowers with yellow and red fruits.
Yuendumu Bush Tomato
Bush Tomato, or wild tomato plant, is usually waxy looking and grows in the creek area in Northern Territory. The ripe fruits have a strong fragrance which may be smelled from long distances. A single plant produces many tasty fruits.
Bush Tomato is rich in sources of potassium and vitamin C. There are more than 100 varieties of bush tomatoes, but only a handful numbers are edible. Some may be poisonous or may cause sickness. Harvesters normally collect sundried fruits of the small bushes in the late summer and early winter.
Audrey Napanangka’s artwork is vivid and strong. Design depicts women sitting around a waterhole with already picked up fruits on the coolaman (special wooden toy) and digging sticks.
Wild Bush Flower
Layla comes from Yuendumu, Northern Territory, and belongs to the Warlpiri language group. She is an accomplished indigenous artist whose paintings have been acquired by many private collectors. Her paintings are about traditional Aboriginal stories and symbols. Her Dreaming is ‘Wild Bush Flowers’ which she inherited from the ancestors however she has skillfully developed her individual style of painting in to the canvas.
This artwork depicts bush seeds, wild flowers and pods gathered by the Aboriginal women in Ventral Australia. Bush seeds and pods are the staple bush tucker and they are also collected for countless other purposes, such as traditional bush medicine.
Gathering By The River
Traditional Aboriginal laws of food hunting involves bush food, sea food, wild life hunting etc. However, they never do anything to hoard or spoil the nature of their environment. They honour their ancestral lands and the teachings from those ancestors. In many occasions, Aboriginal people gather near the river for various ceremonial rituals, where they perform dances, rock-art, story-telling etc.
Barbara Egan comes from Robinvale region of Victoria. She grew on the Murray River in Robinvale. With her connection towards her land of Robinvale and the Murray River, she would never move out from there. Her dreamings mainly involve River Dreaming, Emu Bush etc.
Bush Tomato And Waterhole
This mesmerising Aboriginal design brings to life the bush tomato plant and the life-giving waterholes in a flowing pattern of soft blues, greens, and purples. The detailed dot work represents deep cultural storytelling, connecting land, food, and survival in one harmonious design.
Alpara Seed Yellow
Alpara Seed Yellow is an intricate design depicting the alpara (rat-tail plant) seeds in brilliant shades of orange, red and Sunshine on a yellow background.
Rosie is the second daughter of Lindsay Bird Mpetyane and Mavis Bird Petyarre. Lindsay is senior leader of Ilkawerne country, teacher of the Dreamtime stories and well known Utopia artist.
Rosie has been painting since 1989, learning from her father, aunts and uncles. She lives amongst a large community of painters. Rosie also works as a teacher's aid at Akaye School in the Utopia Region, helping the local children learn to read and write in English and Anmatyerre.
Around The Waterhole
Nambooka is a well-known designer in the quilting world. Her designs are clear, colourful and very attractive. In this design, Nambooka depicted the happenings around a waterhole on a summer day.
On a summer day, people wander around the bush to collect bush food and drink water from the waterholes. The semi-circles or ‘U’s are the people and their footsteps can be seen on the tracks. They use digging sticks to dig and gather food from the ground. Because of the hot day, animals like goannas, rainbow snakes, tortoises and frogs can also be seen going to the waterhole for water. Some long gum leaves (eucalyptus leaves) and fruit had fallen to the ground.
Wild Beans Gold
Audrey Martin Napanangka is a well-known Aboriginal Artist from Yuendumu central. she is well experienced with Bush Tucker, Bush onion, Bush Coconut and another bush dreaming. Her colour sense for the respective dreaming is excellent and is reflected in this stunningly colourful fabric.
Women's Body Dreaming
Cindy Wallace comes from the well-known Wallace family. She was born in 1973 in Santa Teresa, a place about 80km from Alice Springs.
‘Awelye’ is a word that describes everything to do with a women’s ceremony which includes body painting. Awelye ceremonies women are happy to decorate their bodies with dots, lines, circular segments and other types. Women perform Awelye ceremonies to demonstrate respect to their country including Dreamtime stories that belong to the ancestors. People are going to the elder and discussing numerous problems without fears. Cindy performed an excellent job through her artistic brilliance. People attend corrobboree for learning, social mix, and uphold their culture and way to preserve it.
Yumari Dreaming
The site for this Dreaming is Yumari, a collection of rocks west of Kintore in the Gibson Desert. Yumari is the site of a forbidden love union between a Japaljarri man and a Nangala woman. This Dreaming was passed down to the artist by a Pintupi man. In contemporary Warlpiri paintings traditional iconography is used to represent the Jukurrpa, associated sites and other elements. In this work concentric circles are often used to represent 'warnirri' (rock holes).
Yalke
Spectacular views of various creatures such as birds and frogs, and different vegetation can be viewed in the Yalke or wetlands of Australia, both in dry or wet seasons. In the dry season, vast water mass goes back to permanent wetlands, waterholes etc. and become home for waterfowls and many other migratory birds of Australia. In the wet, birds like magpies and geese congregate on the wetland or Yalke. June, with a vibrant color sense, has brilliantly depicted this design with Aboriginal symbols and signs out of her dreamtime story.
Gathering Bush Tucker
Although Central Australia is a desert with little rainfall during the year, it still has trees and desert vegetation of unique varieties. It is the home of the Spinifex grass land, various kinds of desert flowers, animals and many other natural gifts. Little rainfall in summer or winter makes areas happy. You observe colourful flowers laughing in the whole area. It is hard to believe that you are in the desert. Acacia, wild orange, rock, wild passion fruit etc., are laughing to welcome you. Gloria uses the natural gifts for her artwork. She depicts the varieties of bush tucker meticulously.