Summary

About the Artwork

Bush Potato is found throughout the desert. The bush potatoes are dug up with digging sticks for food. Bush potato is sought in the dry cool season.

My stories are not Dreamtime stories about ceremony or mythology, they are stories about foods and medicines used by our people for thousands of years and can be found in the bush. I am constantly inspired by the landscapes, and the stories of survival.

Artist Biography

Susan Peters Nampitjin is a contemporary artist, a descendent of the Walmajarri and Ngarti people, from the Tanami desert of the Southeast Kimberley region of Western Australia. Susan comes from a family of traditional painters, who hold ancient stories, Waljirri (Dreamtime) ceremonies, and oral histories of their people who lived around Paruka (Lake Gregory). Born on Argyle Downs Station, near the banks of the Behn River, Susan lived with her family on Traditional land until 1970. Her family worked for the station in various roles such as jackaroos, stockmen, fencers, camp cooks, before they were trucked back to the Tanami Desert when the Ord River Irrigation Scheme was established. Following this, Susan was removed from her mother and travelled with her father and family to Headingly Station outside of Mt Isa near Urandangi.

Susan was formally educated in Townsville and is a JCU Alumni (Bachelor Community Welfare, JCU 1992), and a Diploma in Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Visual Arts from TAFE in 2005. She first exhibited her work in Balgo in 1996 and began regularly exhibiting in north Queensland and WA since 2005. Susan has also completed Public Art Commissions in Townsville (2007 & 2013).

Through her art practice Susan experiments with a range of art media and techniques, ranging from printmaking to painting, fibre arts and weaving. She creates contemporary representations of her recollections and experience of Country, and interconnected themes of family, community, history, survival, native plants, bush foods and medicines, which all hold deep meaning for her.

Susan won the Cairns Indigenous Art Fair (2021) Award for Innovation with her most recent works made with hessian and ochres. She was part of the Murris in Ink Print Collective (2006-2015) and served on the board of Umbrella Studio Contemporary Arts (2021-2024). Her artworks feature in numerous collections, including Artbank, National Gallery of Australia, Perc Tucker Regional Gallery / Townsville City Council, Townsville University Hospital and the James Cook University Art Collection.

Susan has recently relocated to Southeast Queensland where she is pursuing her career as a professional artist, with an upcoming exhibition at Logan Regional Gallery in collaboration with fellow artist (and Murris in Ink member) Shirley Yumala Collins in 2025.