Emily Kame Kngwarreye is originally from Utopia, north-east of Alice Springs. She began painting at the age of 80, first working with batik, the first medium used in Utopia. 

This painting evokes the Dream of the Yam: it's spring, as the bright colors indicate. The yam extends its roots under the ground to the bowels of the earth. The impression of depth is accentuated by the play of superimposed scale patterns, the dark rings symbolizing the roots themselves.

This work deals with a recurring theme in Emily's inspiration: the Dream of the Yam, sometimes in the form of intertwined lines on a dark background, sometimes in the form of a colorful representation where background and roots mingle, and sometimes, as here, where the root-lines draw a motif in the form of a photographic diaphragm.