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Lilly Morton

Lilly Morton

Lilly’s predominant theme in her paintings is ‘strong bush medicine’, demonstraing a deep connection to her country.

In keeping with the religious laws, Lilly reveals only a small amount of knowledge to the uninitiated. The esoteric information that is held sacred to her and her people is concealed from the public and layered underneath the common visual narrative, masked by the delicate layered dots of the painting.

Lilly inspires all her female relations, many of whom are accomplished artists. She shares her stories about life when they lived traditionally off of the land, and walked with her mother and grandmothers across their country.

Lilly’s husband Banjo is the man that led the well-known walk off from Ampilatwatja community in 2010, protesting for a better way of life for his people. The first walk off in 1949 was with a small group of other Aboriginal stockmen demanding wages instead of rations.

Antarrengeny is Lilly’s country and also her father’s. Lilly has painted Antarrengeny when there has been no rain, but the land shimmers like jewels.

There is good hunting here, in the open flat country after bushfire, when only the young grasses and trees are growing.

Lilly has a strong connection to Antarrengeny and she will continue to paint stories from this land. The community of Ampilatwatja made a conscious decision not to paint ‘altyerr’ dreaming stories. The artists paint their country where those stories belong.