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Emily Kngwarreye

Emily Kngwarreye,
Untitled
, 1996
76 x 130 cm
Acrylic on canvas

EMILY KAME KNGWARREYE passed away last year in her eighties. Following the custom of the Aboriginal people, the full name of the artist that passes on should not be spoken out of respect for the deceased and their family. The substitute, KWEMENTYAI (meaning "no name") and/or the artist's skin (clan) name are used instead. KNGWARREYE is considered one of the most significant Australian contemporary artists. In her youth, KNGWARREYE lived a traditional lifestyle in the outback on a cattle station. In her sixties, she was introduced to "non traditional" (mainstream) art practices. Although she originally used batik as medium, she eventually (a decade later) moved into painting on canvas.

KNGWARREYE, known primarily for her fields of shimmering dots, began to make stripe paintings in 1993. There is a strong spiritual analogy between these stripe paintings and the traditional body painting "awelye," yam dreaming cycles of the KNGWARREYE people. They capture the immediacy and rhythm of "painting up" (on the body) for a ceremonial performance.

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