Shikera paints the Anaty story from her father's country. This yam grows underground with its viny shrub growing above ground up to 1 metre high. The anaty is a tuber, or swollen root, of the shrub and tastes much like the common sweet potato. It can be eaten raw or cooked and is still a staple food for the desert aborigines where it can be harvested at any time of the year. Some can be found as big as a person's head.
Shikera Petrick Mills Petyarre
Born:
1998
Language Group:
Alyawarre
Country:
Numfive and Irrweltye, Utopia Region, North East of Alice Springs, Northern Territory
Medium:
Acrylic on Canvas
Subjects:
Anaty (Desert Yam)
Shikera, whose name was previously spelled Shakira, began painting in September 2006. Her first paintings for Mbantua Gallery were created using canvas and paint borrowed from her mother, the late Lisa Mills Pwerle. As one of the gallery's younger artists, Shikera beams with pride whenever she completes a new painting. Mbantua hopes she will have a bright future and continue to learn and preserve her cultural traditions through her art.
Shikera paints the same subject as her mother, the Anaty (desert yam). There is an ancient Dreamtime story associated with the Anaty, which Shikera will continue to learn as she grows older. This story is rooted in her mother's country, Irrweltye.
Her designs closely resemble those of her mother, who was her teacher. The linear work in her paintings represents the root system of the yam, while dots symbolise its seeds.
