Yam Dreaming, 1996

synthetic polymer paint on canvas

59 x 132 cm

Price on application — enquire

Provenance: Aboriginal Desert Art Gallery, Melbourne Andrej Janchevski, Colour Square Collection, Melbourne Lawson~Menzies, Important Aboriginal Art, June 2008 Private Collection Vic
Exhibited: Tjinytjilpa: The Dotted Design. Selected Works from the Aboriginal Art Galleries of Australia Collection, Mornington Peninsula Gallery and subsequently at five other venues in regional Victoria, 1998 – 1999 Utopia, Cooee Aboriginal Art Gallery, Redfern, NSW, 2022
Literature / Illustrated: CF. for similar work of the same period created for Aboriginal Desert Art Alice Springs see J Good, Making Art and Design: Cultural Contexts, October 2001
Artwork story: The subject of this work is Arlatyey, the Pencil Yam or Bush Potato. This is a valuable food source and the subject of important songs, dances, and ceremonies amongst Eastern Anmatyerre people. It was the subject of a great number of Emily Kngwarreye’s paintings, which were created in a vast array of vibrant colours. In this painting, Emily has characterised the roots of the yam in the plant’s full period of maturity. As the foliage dies off, cracks appear in the ground, which trace the root system, and indicate that the engorged tubers are ready to be dug up and eaten. Solid lines, stark and unadorned, trace the meandering paths of the pencil yam roots as they forge their way through the desert sands. Emily Kame Kngwarreye was born at Anilitye (Boundary Bore) and began painting on canvas in her late 70s. She was awarded the Australian Creative Fellowship in 1992 and continued painting prolifically until her death in 1996.

Stockroom

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Emily Kame Kngwarreye

c.1910 – 1996

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

Yam Dreaming, 1996

synthetic polymer paint on canvas

59 x 132 cm

Price on application — enquire

Provenance: Aboriginal Desert Art Gallery, Melbourne Andrej Janchevski, Colour Square Collection, Melbourne Lawson~Menzies, Important Aboriginal Art, June 2008 Private Collection Vic
Exhibited: Tjinytjilpa: The Dotted Design. Selected Works from the Aboriginal Art Galleries of Australia Collection, Mornington Peninsula Gallery and subsequently at five other venues in regional Victoria, 1998 – 1999 Utopia, Cooee Aboriginal Art Gallery, Redfern, NSW, 2022
Literature / Illustrated: CF. for similar work of the same period created for Aboriginal Desert Art Alice Springs see J Good, Making Art and Design: Cultural Contexts, October 2001
Artwork story: The subject of this work is Arlatyey, the Pencil Yam or Bush Potato. This is a valuable food source and the subject of important songs, dances, and ceremonies amongst Eastern Anmatyerre people. It was the subject of a great number of Emily Kngwarreye’s paintings, which were created in a vast array of vibrant colours. In this painting, Emily has characterised the roots of the yam in the plant’s full period of maturity. As the foliage dies off, cracks appear in the ground, which trace the root system, and indicate that the engorged tubers are ready to be dug up and eaten. Solid lines, stark and unadorned, trace the meandering paths of the pencil yam roots as they forge their way through the desert sands. Emily Kame Kngwarreye was born at Anilitye (Boundary Bore) and began painting on canvas in her late 70s. She was awarded the Australian Creative Fellowship in 1992 and continued painting prolifically until her death in 1996.