Awelye Ahakeye by Tanya Bird Mpetyane (SOLD)

This painting is certified by Utopia Lane Gallery as an authentic and original Aboriginal artwork hand painted by Tanya Bird. Awelye is a term used to describe women's ceremony and all that it encompasses. The U shaped symbols in this painting represent women painted in ceremonial designs. They have with them their dancing sticks and decorated coolamons (carved wooden bowls). Ahakeye are little currants that grow on theCanthium attenuatum shrub which grows about 3m high. This shrub produces small white flowers, deep green citrus-like leaves and the currents which are black when ripe and very small. This fruit is favoured for its sweet taste and can be reconstituted in water if dry. Tanya uses small black dots to represent the ahakeye which have dried and fallen to the ground. As black is traditionally symbolic of the ahakeye for Tanya's people, Tanya uses grey as a neutral background colour.