Awelye

Before cattle were introduced to Utopia Station, the surrounding country was abundant with Portulaca oleracea, a grass long used by Indigenous people as an important food source. This grass produces tiny black seeds, which Galya represents as symmetrical half-circle forms across her canvases. Indigenous people use the seeds in several ways: they can be ground on a flat rock with a stone to make flour for bread or cookies, or mixed with water to create a drink. After nearly a century of cattle grazing, the seed-producing grass is far less plentiful than it was before white settlement.