Untitled (Alalgura I), 1992

synthetic polymer paint on Belgian linen

150 x 120 cm

Price on application — enquire

Provenance: Delmore Gallery, Alice Springs, NT Gallery Gabrielle Pizzi, Melbourne, Vic, (label attached verso) The Collection of Colin and Elizabeth Laverty, Sydney, purchased in September 1993
Exhibited: The Collectors Edition, Cooee Aboriginal Art Gallery, NSW, August 2013 Black Art White Walls – The Anne and Adrian Newstead Collection (Australian regional gallery tour): Grace Cossington Smith Gallery, Wahroonga NSW, 23 January – 30 March 2014 Wagga Wagga Regional Gallery, Wagga Wagga NSW, 7 April – 12 June 2014 Walker Street Gallery, Dandenong Vic, 4 September – 8 October 2014 Moree Plains Gallery, Moree NSW, 1 December 2014 – 29 January 2015 Manning Regional Gallery, Taree NSW, 30 January – 15 March 2015 Burrinja Regional Gallery, Upwey Vic, 4 July – 28 September 2015 Brunswick Regional Gallery, Brunswick Vic, 16 October – 8 November 2015 Caloundra Regional Gallery, Caloundra Qld, 20 January – 28 February 2016 O Tempo dos Sonhos – The Time of Dreaming (Arte Aborígene Contemporânea da Austrália), Caixa Cultural Foundation & Casa Fiat de Cultura, touring 2018 – 2024: Brazil: São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Belo Horizonte, Fortaleza, Curitiba, Brasília, Salvador, Recife, Uberlândia Argentina: Buenos Aires, Córdoba Uruguay: Montevideo
Artwork story: Such application of red and yellow colours, highlights the varied and changing hues in the life cycle of the Anooralya Yam and other food plants found near Alalgura on Utopia Station, west of Delmore Downs. From an aerial perspective we see sporadic clustered growth after summer rain. We also look on this exciting work as a water catchment area. The rain falls and water slowly flows along the broad shallow watercourse and replenishes the soakage at Alalgura.The flourish of growth that follows is exceptional and rapid. Reflected in this work is the Anooralya Yam,the most important plant in Emily’s custodianship..This hardy and fertile plant provides both a tuber vegetable and a seed bearing flower called Kame (Emily’s tribal name). The visual evidence of maturing species is no cause for alarm in terms of survival, for the yam tuber can always be found where cracks in the earth’s surface indicates its presence underground. Ceremony reinforces through narrative, the significance of this knowledge, in particular, it teaches survival, basic social codes and obligations. The superficial lineal presence keeps this ceremonial reference always present in her expression

Stockroom

Click to enlarge

Emily Kame Kngwarreye

c.1910 – 1996

Region: Eastern Desert
Community: Utopia
Language group: Anmatyerr (Anmatyerre)

Untitled (Alalgura I), 1992

synthetic polymer paint on Belgian linen

150 x 120 cm

Price on application — enquire

Provenance: Delmore Gallery, Alice Springs, NT Gallery Gabrielle Pizzi, Melbourne, Vic, (label attached verso) The Collection of Colin and Elizabeth Laverty, Sydney, purchased in September 1993
Exhibited: The Collectors Edition, Cooee Aboriginal Art Gallery, NSW, August 2013 Black Art White Walls – The Anne and Adrian Newstead Collection (Australian regional gallery tour): Grace Cossington Smith Gallery, Wahroonga NSW, 23 January – 30 March 2014 Wagga Wagga Regional Gallery, Wagga Wagga NSW, 7 April – 12 June 2014 Walker Street Gallery, Dandenong Vic, 4 September – 8 October 2014 Moree Plains Gallery, Moree NSW, 1 December 2014 – 29 January 2015 Manning Regional Gallery, Taree NSW, 30 January – 15 March 2015 Burrinja Regional Gallery, Upwey Vic, 4 July – 28 September 2015 Brunswick Regional Gallery, Brunswick Vic, 16 October – 8 November 2015 Caloundra Regional Gallery, Caloundra Qld, 20 January – 28 February 2016 O Tempo dos Sonhos – The Time of Dreaming (Arte Aborígene Contemporânea da Austrália), Caixa Cultural Foundation & Casa Fiat de Cultura, touring 2018 – 2024: Brazil: São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Belo Horizonte, Fortaleza, Curitiba, Brasília, Salvador, Recife, Uberlândia Argentina: Buenos Aires, Córdoba Uruguay: Montevideo
Artwork story: Such application of red and yellow colours, highlights the varied and changing hues in the life cycle of the Anooralya Yam and other food plants found near Alalgura on Utopia Station, west of Delmore Downs. From an aerial perspective we see sporadic clustered growth after summer rain. We also look on this exciting work as a water catchment area. The rain falls and water slowly flows along the broad shallow watercourse and replenishes the soakage at Alalgura.The flourish of growth that follows is exceptional and rapid. Reflected in this work is the Anooralya Yam,the most important plant in Emily’s custodianship..This hardy and fertile plant provides both a tuber vegetable and a seed bearing flower called Kame (Emily’s tribal name). The visual evidence of maturing species is no cause for alarm in terms of survival, for the yam tuber can always be found where cracks in the earth’s surface indicates its presence underground. Ceremony reinforces through narrative, the significance of this knowledge, in particular, it teaches survival, basic social codes and obligations. The superficial lineal presence keeps this ceremonial reference always present in her expression