Susan Ryder, Bush Tucker, 61x30cm

• Aboriginal Artist - Susan Ryder
• Community - Nyirripi  
• Aboriginal Art Centre- Warlukurlangu Artists Aboriginal Corporation  
• Catalogue number - 3078/20ny
• Materials - Acrylic on linen  
• Size(cm) - H61 W30 D2
• Postage variants - Artwork posted un-stretched and rolled for safe shipping
• Orientation - Painted from all sides and OK to hang as wished

This painting depicts bush tucker, food collected by karnta (women) while out hunting. There is a wide variety of traditional food that warlpiri people continue to gather and consume as a part of their diet. Many of the foods have their own Jukurrpa (dreaming) associated with them. Some of the common bush tucker foods are ngarlkirdi (witchetty grub), wanakiji (bush tomato), yarla (bush potato),  janmarda (bush onion), ngarlajiyi (bush carrot), Lukarrara (fringe rush seed), and yuparli (bush banana)

''All my family are artists." Susan Ryder was born in 1973 in Alice Springs Hospital. She grew up in Santa Teresa, a remote Aboriginal community 85 kilometres from Alice Springs, until she was about 16 years old. Her family then moved to Alice Springs, where she stayed for many years. She was inspired to learn painting by watching her auntie and several cousins painting in many styles including European style landscapes, bush foods, and traditional dot painting. She prefers to experiment with a combination of dot painting and brush strokes to create her own patterns, and sometimes chooses to incorporate bush foods into these designs. She moved to Nyirripi in 2014 to be with her partner and continue raising their children. She has four children and two grandchildren. As well as painting, she works for the Batchelor Institute in Nyirripi.