Dinni Kunoth Kemarre & Josie Kunoth Petyarre

AFL football is so popular in outback communities that people drive for hours to see a game. Crossing country in cars and trucks, people from different communities, and sometimes from different language groups, come together for the sake of footy. These colourful community events are captured in these paintings by Josie Kunoth Petyarre and sculptures by Dinni Kunoth Kemarre.

This husband-and-wife team lives in Apungalindum, on their traditional lands in Utopia, 250 kilometres north-east of Alice Springs in Central Australia. They are Anmatyerre people. Josie began working as an artist in the 1970s. She started working in batik but now works as a sculptor and a painter.

In 2006 her husband Dinni began carving 3D football sculptures. Before becoming an artist, Dinni worked on cattle stations, branding and mustering cattle. Since 2006 they have both been making art that celebrates the role of Australian Rules football in Central Australian communities. They have nine children and nine grandchildren.

Together they go on long trips into the bush to find the bean tree (Erythrina vespertilio), from which they make sculptures using hand tools such as small axes and rasps. The bean tree wood is very light, which means it is easy to carve and to colour.

The Bush Footy paintings are painted on canvas with acrylic paint. Painted on the ground, the footy oval appears in the centre as the focal point from which all of the action radiates