Josie Petrick Kemarre’s extraordinary Wild Flower Dreaming pays homage to her Aboriginal culture past, present and future. Josie draws upon her inherited traditional Dreamings as inspiration for her unusual and highly visual depictions of her immediate surroundings. She has always lived a semi-traditional lifestyle, spending her early years searching for ‘bush foods’. Josie’s knowledge regarding the Central Desert seasons and flora is extensive and exemplified within this exquisite work.

Majority of the year, the desert areas are dry, dusty and plant life is scarce. However, when the desert rains come, the ground rejuvenates and what follows is resurgence of life in which wild flowers blanket the landscape. Josie’s Wild Flower Dreaming is a kaleidoscope of color and variation that visually encapsulates this moment of beauty found within her homelands of Utopia, Central Western Desert.

While this unique work is underpinned in traditional conception, the importance of the rains, fertility and the need for abundance in plant life, Josie has moved the work beyond tradition to one where abstracted forms reveal a spiritual and cultural celebration. Josie Petrick Kemarre’s Wild Flower Dreaming merges tradition with the contemporary to create a truly unique work which re-iterates cultural concepts while radiating visual artistry.