ildren sitting together and digging for the tjala. The earth is shown as soft because it’s been raining.

Tjala or honey ants live in nests about a metre underground beneath mulga trees, and they are a highly favoured food source. The tjala tunnels that lead down to the ants’ nests are called nyinantu, and the larvae are called ipilyka-ipilyka. After the rain when the ground is soft the women go digging for tjala by looking for the drill holes under the trees. They then use shovels and crowbars to dig down following the tunnels to find the tjala inside. Aṉangu suck the delicious rich honey- like liquid from the distended abdomen of the tjala. The story of the tjala is told across the Northern Territory into South Australia and is an important link between Aṉangu mythology and inter-dependence on the environment.

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Michelle’s father’s country is tjala tjukurpa (honey ant dreaming). Michelle and her family still visit this country where she pays special attention to the natural elements on the land which are then represented in her paintings:

I am painting the landscape from above, as you might see it from an airplane or as a bird looking down. It is beautiful country both from on the ground and up above.

In Michelle’s work she creates how the tjala (honey ants) tunnel though the sandy soil. She also depicts the small groupings of intergenerational women and children sitting together and digging for the tjala. The earth is shown as soft because it’s been raining.

Michelle Lewis

Michelle’s Tjala Dreaming – Honey Ant

About the artist

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