Short St Gallery
Short St Gallery
Skip to main content
  • Menu
  • Exhibitions
  • Available Artworks
  • Artists
  • News
  • Contact
Menu

ALISON NAMPITJINPA ANDERSON: A solo exhibition

Past exhibition
11 - 31 May 2017
  • Works
  • Overview
Open a larger version of the following image in a popup: Alison Anderson, Honey Ant Story

Alison Anderson Australian, Luritja, b. 1958

Honey Ant Story
acrylic on linen
122 x 92 cm
833460
Enquire
%3Cdiv%20class%3D%22artist%22%3EAlison%20Anderson%3C/div%3E%3Cdiv%20class%3D%22title_and_year%22%3E%3Cspan%20class%3D%22title_and_year_title%22%3EHoney%20Ant%20Story%3C/span%3E%3C/div%3E%3Cdiv%20class%3D%22medium%22%3Eacrylic%20on%20linen%3C/div%3E%3Cdiv%20class%3D%22dimensions%22%3E122%20x%2092%20cm%3C/div%3E
This painting records one of the key episodes in the honey ant song cycle, the narrative that dominates the desert country around Papunya. At the centre if the image is...
Read more
This painting records one of the key episodes in the honey ant song cycle, the narrative that dominates the desert country around Papunya. At the centre if the image is a white-hued circle enfolding four small roundels and a larger red-shaded disc motif. Guarding the white circle form on its outside are a series of arcs - these represent women gathered at a ceremony. The white circle itself is the Waluwanu design, which desert women wear on their bodies when in performance at certain large religious gatherings. This particular ritual event records the encounter of the Honey Ant ancestors with a large party of Mala wallabies - a meeting that took place at a site named Mawurrungu, and is regularly re-enacted at ceremonies there. The site, in deep desert, has certain features suggestive of the primal encounter, when the honey ants, headed eastwards from a place named Alyalya, were startled to come upon a number of the Mala engaged on a journey of their own, bringing the features of the landscape into being in their own image - and the Mala were at that moment celebrating, and had formed a vast lake on the flat red plain - a plain that still floods regularly to this day.
Close full details
Share
  • Facebook
  • X
  • Pinterest
  • Tumblr
  • Email
Previous
|
Next
14 
of  20
Back to exhibitions
Privacy Policy
Manage cookies
Copyright © Short St Gallery
Facebook, opens in a new tab.
Twitter, opens in a new tab.
Instagram, opens in a new tab.
Join the mailing list
Send an email

This website uses cookies
This site uses cookies to help make it more useful to you. Please contact us to find out more about our Cookie Policy.

Manage cookies
Accept

Cookie preferences

Check the boxes for the cookie categories you allow our site to use

Cookie options
Required for the website to function and cannot be disabled.
Improve your experience on the website by storing choices you make about how it should function.
Allow us to collect anonymous usage data in order to improve the experience on our website.
Allow us to identify our visitors so that we can offer personalised, targeted marketing.
Save preferences