“Aboriginal people inherit spiritual, social and cultural associations with plants, animals and geography. Yam Spirit Dreaming is part of a small series of works created by the artist to express his cultural affiliations with the anek (yam). Prior to life in settlements, Western Desert Aboriginal people relied on yams as a staple food and as a valuable source of moisture during summer months. Its bulbous fruit grows approximately 20 inches underground and once harvested is lightly roasted on coals or eaten raw.
The pale-yellow silhouette in this painting simultaneously illustrates the yams’ presence above and below the surface of the earth. Seen from above, the subterranean root system and its tubers and indistinct from the surface vines that creep across the desert floor. Closer inspection reveals a suggestion of the amorphous figures of the anek ancestors that intertwine with the network of roots. The seated presence of ceremonial participants is suggested in the form of half circles.”(Vanessa Merlino and Luke Scholes, 60 over 50: 60 Paintings from 50 Years of Australian First Nations Art, 2023, p. 38)