Just as Minnie showed glorious freedom of expression with her first brush strokes of acrylic paint on canvas in 1999, Molly, Emily and Galya had an immediate and positive response to painting on canvas. The inaugural workshop heralded new possibilities for each of them, and they have been enthusiastic about developing new visual expressions of their Bush Melon Dreaming. Minnie took a close and supportive role in her younger sisters’ development as artists.

Molly and her sisters know intimately every aspect of the bush melon, passed down to them in Dreamtime stories and songs by ancestors who conveyed where, when and how to collect the small green fruit, and the women’s ceremonies and body painting for it. Utopia women used to collect this fruit in the summer and scrape out the small black seeds. They would eat the fruit or cut it into pieces, skewering them onto a thin piece of wood to dry for the coming months when bush tucker was scarce. Sadly it is now difficult to find due to over-grazing.

During Awelye ceremonies at Atnwengerrp, the Pwerle sisters pay homage to their Bush Melon Dreaming through singing, dancing and ‘painting up’ their bodies with ochres in distinctive linear patterns. When painting on canvas, Molly frequently uses acrylic colours resembling the ochre pigments the women collect for body painting: yellow, red, brown and creamy white, and black for the colour of her skin.

Like her sisters, Molly paints ‘Awelye Atnwengerrp’ but in her own exciting and individual style. The women’s ‘Awelye’ ceremonial body painting patterns come to life in her remarkable variations of straight and interweaving lines on her canvases. Her use of paint is sensuous and her gestures bold. Using subtle colour harmonies and mesmerising rhythms she creates sophisticated and exciting paintings that have proven very popular amongst art lovers.

Molly is still currently living within the Atnwengerrp community with her two sisters Emily and Galya Pwerle and many extended family members and still enjoying painting.