Artist:     Dora Mbitjana

Title:       Awelye Dreaming

Size:        127 x 96 cm

Medium: Acrylic on Canvas

Commission Work Avaialble 

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Dora Mbitjana is the youngest daughter of the late renowned artist Minnie Pwerle. She is joined by her esteemed sisters, Barbara Weir and Betty Mbitjana, who have significantly contributed to the art world. 

Dora acquired her knowledge of Dreamings through teachings from her mother and aunties. She engaged in the collection of bush tucker and participated in Awelye ceremonies. Awelye refers to the traditional body painting utilized in women's ceremonies, a broader concept encompassing the ceremonial content and associated body of knowledge. This practice establishes connections to the fertility of the land and serves to celebrate the sustenance it provides. Aboriginal women from the Utopia region perform Awelye to honour their ancestors, demonstrate respect for their Country, and exhibit their commitment to the wellbeing of their community.

Dora’s artistic development was influenced by her observations of her mother and aunties as they translated their Awelye, Bush Melon Dreaming, and body painting motifs onto canvas, each employing their distinctive styles. Their artworks are characterized by vitality, boldness, and innovation.

Dora's paintings represent her mother's country, Atnwengerrp, in the northern reaches of the remote Utopia region in the Northern Territory. The designs reflect ceremonial body paint patterns that her sister Betty passed down.

Employing a vibrant, multicolored palette, Dora infuses her artworks with joy. Occasionally, her pieces exhibit patterns inspired by the seeds and bush plums women consume during ceremonies. She cherishes memories of her mother and other women gathering these fruits, preparing them for preservation by cutting them into pieces, skewering them, and drying them for consumption when bush tucker was scarce.

Dora resides in Alice Springs with her four children and six grandchildren. She frequently returns to her ancestral homelands of Atnwengerrp with her family. Dora's paintings have garnered a substantial following, and there is excellent anticipation regarding her ongoing artistic development.

About the Painting

The bold patterns throughout Dora’s painting illustrate women’s ceremonial body paint design. The large roundels depict the waterholes around which the women perform the ceremony, and the small circles are the bush melons, representing the bush tucker that they live on whilst the ceremonies take place, which often take up to a week. The women apply the body paint designs onto their breasts, arms, and thighs singing as each woman takes their turn to be ‘painted up’. Their songs relate to the dreaming stories of ancestral travel and other totemic plants, animals, and natural forces. Awelye – a women’s ceremony, demonstrates respect for the land. In performing these ceremonies they ensure well-being and happiness within their communities.

Though Dora enjoys using lots of different colors in her paintings, the traditional colors used during ceremonies for her dreaming stories from Atnwengerrp country are red and white. Atnwengerrp lies in the heartland of Alyawarr country, approx. 200 kilometers to the north-east of Alice Springs.