Native Peanut Tree, 2026

This painting of the native peanut plant, Sterculia quadrifida, was done in oil paint and puts the plant atop a deep black background. It is a straightforward botanical artwork; however, I aim to address concurrent and sometimes opposing ideas within the works in this series of which this work is a part of – mainly looking at the loss of cultural and familial knowledge due to the actions of past government policies and my lived experience around this.
The native peanut plant can be found on the Daly River, where my Nana was born and taken from. The seeds are eaten as bush tucker, the bark and leaves can be used for weaving, and the sap and leaves have traditional medicinal uses. There is a flip side to choosing this plant in that my Nana’s father was a white man who farmed western peanuts on the Daly River. The darkness of the background is plainly representational of the loss of my own knowledge from this side of my family. The native plants of the Daly River, and the Northern Territory in general, hold a familiarity to me and painting them gives me the opportunity visit them, get to know them and additionally process the disconnection I feel, allowing me to reclaim my cultural identity in a way that makes that sense to me.

Caitlin is a Malak Malak woman, born and raised on Larrakia Country/Darwin. She currently lives on Birpai Country on the Mid North Coast of NSW with her family. Her arts practice involves primarily painting in oils and drawing in graphite and charcoal and is grounded in realism across landscape, botanical representation, figure and portraiture. Her work is increasingly shaped by questions of her personal history, cultural identity and the reconnection/reclamation of Culture and Country.
Caitlin began art school as a young adult and attended the Queensland College of Art in Brisbane, however, life took her in other directions before completion. Coming back to a dedicated arts practice in recent years she has participated in group exhibitions showing her artworks in the Incognito Art Show, Aspire Gallery, Black Fig Gallery, ArtsMNC Make/Space, LEDA Gallery and in 2026 she was selected as a finalist in the Lethbridge Gallery Small Scale Art Prize.