Bush Melon Pink Boy and Girl 16cm Pair

A contemporary set of 2 mini Aboriginal dolls wearing Indigenous designed clothing by Aboriginal artists. Each design has its own cultural meaning. Bush Melon is an original artwork by Betty  Mbitjana. For thousands of years, Aboriginal people were hunters and gatherers living entirely on the abundant wild food also known as bush tucker. Nowadays many of them still eat this traditional food but they no longer rely on it for survival. The Bush Melon is a sweet bush tucker that once grew in abundance at Utopia. As well as providing water, these melons are a good source of some essential vitamins and minerals. Betty’s mother and other women would gather the fruit to be eaten at once, or to be stored for times when bush tucker was scarce. The Aboriginal iconography in this work refers to awelye (body paint) associated with the women’s ceremony and the bush melon. The U-shape with lines represents women and other lines represent body painting markings. The large circles represent a ceremonial site and small circles represent the bush melon itself. The dotted areas are seed pods from the bush melon. As these Aboriginal dolls are handmade, the features, fabrics and details may vary.

  Size: 16cm