Rona Rubuntja / Arrernte people / Australia b.1970 / Yirrampa (honey ant) (from ‘Bush tucker’ series) 2009 / Earthenware, hand-built terracotta clay with underglaze colours and applied decoration / 13 x 9cm / Purchased 2010 with funds raised through the Queensland Art Gallery Foundation Appeal / Collection: Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art / © Rona Rubuntja/Licensed by Viscopy

Rona Rubuntja
Yirrampa (honey ant) (from ‘Bush tucker’ series) 2009

Not Currently on Display

Rona Rubuntja builds her clay pots by hand before painting them with underglaze colours and adding decorations. Pottery is not traditional among Aboriginal peoples, but in the 1970s, Hermannsburg became one of the first communities to have its own kiln, and Arrernte men began to make small decorative objects and figures from clay. By the 1990s, Arrernte women were producing distinctively decorated coil-built pottery.

These non-utilitarian pots demonstrate the artists’ experimentation with bright colours and new decorative styles. This particular pot shows the honey ants that make their nests under mulga trees. Honey ants are a common bush food around Hermannsburg.

The women follow the worker ants back to the nest, and then dig down along the tunnels to reach the chamber containing the honey ants. The sacs that hold the honey are fragile, and great care is taken when transporting them back to the community.

Rona Rubuntja comes from Hermannsburg and is the niece of well-known painter and community leader Wenten Rubuntja (1923–2005). In 1998, she joined the Hermannsburg Potters, many of whom are descendants of Albert Namatjira and are influenced by his use of modern media to depict their connection to the land.

Hermannsburg potters decorate their works in a distinctive way with scenes and stories from the Western MacDonnell Ranges. They use the surfaces of their handcrafted pots to tell stories, and show the landscape, flora and fauna unique to Central Australia. Rubuntja is a prominent artist in the group, and her works show her love of country, which she expresses with humour and imagination.

Discussion Questions

1. Do some research to find out about honey ants and how they are used as food in Aboriginal communities.

2. How would you feel about digging in the sand for food? Name the foods you eat that are dug from the ground.

3. What do you think a ‘non-utilitarian’ object means? Research this term.

4. Pottery is not a traditional medium amongst Aboriginal communities but can you think of a way that they used clay in ceremonies?

Classroom Activities

Plan, build and decorate a large, coiled clay vessel that celebrates your favourite meal. If you do not have access to clay and a kiln, you could use plasticine or papier-mâché to build your object. As a class, plan and create a giant picnic or smorgasbord as a way of presenting your works.