This painting relates to the Honey Ant Ancestor. The Honey Ant is one of the main Dreamings of the women of the Eastern Desert, Central Australia and is of symbolic importance as it relates to a number of sacred sites.

The Honey Ant is considered to be one of the delicacies of the desert dwellers of Central Australia. The women search the scrublands for their nests and then dig holes to extract them - their bodies swollen with honey. The collection of this and other forms of bush tucker has been handed down from generation to generation.

Audrey Kngwarreye Morton’s painting represents a mass of Honey Ant nests with chambers and galleries radiating out from the centre. It also represents the markings on the bodies of the Honey Ants (which are like those of the nest). Audrey overlays her coloured topographical background with fine white markings made with the gutta-nib instrument (used in batik-making).