Read about the artist and view more paintings by Sharon Numina here

The Aboriginal Bush Plum Dreaming Story is a big story that spreads right across the western and central deserts from Lajamanu and Warlpiri country to the Utopia homelands.

The Bush Plum Dreaming from the Utopia region: In the Dreamtime winds blew from all directions carrying the bush plum seed to the artists’ ancestral lands. The first bush plum of the dreamings grew and bore fruit and dropped more seeds. Many winds blew the seeds all over the dreaming lands.

To ensure the continued fruiting of this plant each season, the Aboriginal people pay homage to the spirit of the bush plum by painting about it and recreating it in their ceremonies through song and dance. The patterns in the paintings celebrating the Bush Plum work on many levels, they represent the fruit of the plant, its leaves and flowers and also the body paint designs that are associated with it during ceremony.

Love story of Bush Plum

The bush plum also plays an important part in Warlpiri Dreaming and ritual practices involved in Yilpinji, Love Magic. When a girl falls in love she goes to her female relatives and is instructed in how to attract her man as a lover. She weaves a belt out of hair while singing Yilpinji songs imbuing the belt with magic. When the man approaches she entices him with her charms until he comes under the influence of her allure. She reveals the belt as his ardour grows and persuades him to place the belt around her waist. As he does, he falls under her spell and they go off together as a couple. Together they eat bush plums and hunt for food. Other important Warlpiri, on learning of their tryst, follow them and confront them as a couple and also eat the bush plums. In this way the group recognizes their relationship and acknowledges that it is an appropriate match. They are now recognized by all as a couple. ( From love… art & ceremony Yilpinji Christine Nicholls, The Australian Art Print Network)