Emily Kam Kngwarray Indigenous Australian (Anmatyerr), 1910-1996

Emily Kam Kngwarray began painting at the age of seventy-nine and in just eight years completed no fewer than four thousand works of art. Yet, she never went to art school, never looked through art books, and rarely went to galleries. Her first experience of serious painting was the making of boldly fluid marks on the greased skin of her countrywomen. Her artistic achievement, miraculous in its strength and powerful appeal, owes much to the inspiration of Indigenous spirituality and the magical creation stories that underpin its belief systems.

This painting, Alhalkere, as all of her work, was painted horizontally (like the painter Jackson Pollock who intuitively accessed the spiritual realm) and evidence a horizontal consciousness not a hierarchical one. Knowledge is not privileged over wisdom. There is a balance between knowledge and wisdom – the knowledge gained through a life well lived and the wisdom of ancient stories that represent the intimacy of living on this world. The patterns and diversities of life compliment each other and are in balance.

‘Alhalkere’, Emily Kngwarray answered when questioned by Rodney Gooch about her imagery is, ‘Whole lot, that’s whole lot, that’s what I paint, whole lot’. Not only the place of her birth, Alhalkere was ultimately the nexus of everything that empowered Kngwarreye’s life, reflecting her participation in ceremony and a lifetime of traditional cultural practice, this small triangular shaped land was the place and the law that she continually re-created in her art.

Please note that all First Nations Art is created from a so called ‘Birds Eye’ view. This means that the paintings can be hung either horizontally as well as vertically.