Louise Numina Napananka / Medicine Leaves (14F)

Louise Numina was born in 1976 and is an Anmatyerre artist from Ti Tree, 190km North of Alice Springs in Central Australia. She grew up on Stirling Station, a cattle station south of Tennant Creek along with her six sisters and three brothers, where she attended primary school and later moved to Alice Springs to attend Yirara College.

After she completed her school studies Louise moved back to Stirling station and worked with the Community Development Program. Her aunties, very famous artists, Gloria and Kathleen Petyerre taught Louise to paint in 1981 and she sold her art through galleries in Alice Springs and across the Northern Territory up to Darwin, where she eventually moved in 1995.

Louise studied art at Nungalinya College and has a Diploma of Fine Arts from the Northern Territory University. Her art has been exhibited throughout Australia and is popular with art dealers and collectors worldwide.

Louise lives in Darwin with her sisters, Jacinta, Lanita, Caroline and Sharon Numina, who are also well respected artists.

The Western desert has an extreme dry climate. The summer is hot with temperatures often exceeding forty degrees Celsius. In winter the nights are freezing cold from June to August. During the droughts, vegetation is sparse and only spinifex and mulga shrubs subsist though they appear withered and lifeless.

After the infrequent rain the desert landscape is transformed. The dried out spinifex flower resembles a field of wheat and the mulga shrub bears green dense foliage and masses of bright yellow flowers. Growing amongst these plants is an abundance of wildflowers that turns the deep red coloured desert floor into a utopian garden.

The Bush Medicine Plant is an Australian native that grows wild in Central Australia. Women collect leaves from these plants, which are boiled to extract resin. Kangaroo fat is mixed into the resin, creating a paste that can be stored for a long time in bush conditions. This medicine is used to heal cuts, wounds, bites and rashes. It is also used to treat the flu, headache, backache, upset stomach, chest pains or as an insect repellent. As the leaves and petals dry out they fall off and are blown around by the wind. This is represented in the painting and gives it the movement.