The Artists of Ampilatwatja is an aboriginal owned and governed non-profit corporation and art centre. It's based in Ampilatwatja, a remote desert community in Aherrenge Country, land of the Alyawarr people, 325km north-east of Mparntwe (Alice Springs) in the Northern Territory, close to the boundary of the Tanami and Davenport Ranges bioregions.

"Our art centre is a place where aboriginal women across all generations have been gathering for the past 25 years to paint Country, share stories, pass on knowledge. Our style is unique as it pays homage to the significance and use of traditional bush medicine.

In winter time we paint on Country, while we camp out for bush tucker, medicine and ceremonies. It helps keep culture strong while sustaining our family economy. Our land has provided for our people for generations, every plant and animal plays a vital role within the ecological system and in our vision of the Cosmo. That’s why, as a community, we have chosen to depict traditional knowledge of Dreaming and Country through the translation of waterholes and soaks, bush medicines, mountains and sand hills.

In keeping with our Lore, we reveal only a small amount of knowledge to the uninitiated. The esoteric information is held sacred underneath the common visual narrative, masked by the delicate layered dots of the paintings."

This way the artists of Ampilatwatja have been recording knowledge on plants of cultural significance through painting and - alongside with a student of ethnobotany - they are now recording plants through writing, audio, photo-video documentation and collection of samples.

The conception of illness in aboriginal culture, the role of songs, stories, ceremonies is also explored, providing further insights on how aboriginal people and the ecosystems may be affected by the recent changes brought in by western models.