SmithDavidson Gallery presents selected works by Australian First Nations artist Emily Kame Kngwarreye at Treasure House Fair this week. Highlighting the presentation is Wild Yam Dreaming (1995), a striking example of Kngwarreye’s late-career evolution and one of the finest works from this seminal period in her practice. This presentation preludes the artist’s grand retrospective at the Tate Modern opening in July, as well as the landmark group exhibition at UNIT Gallery London, Tjukurrpa: The Dreaming, held in collaboration with the SmithDavidson Collection.
Painted in 1995 using synthetic polymer on canvas, Wild Yam Dreaming exemplifies the shift in Kngwarreye’s artistic language during the final years of her life. Moving away from the vibrant colour fields and dotting techniques of her earlier work, she began to explore minimalist ‘line’ paintings, often executed in black, brown, or blue on a white background. These compositions reflect ceremonial body painting traditions, with horizontal and vertical lines forming intricate networks across the canvas.
Wild Yam Dreaming, measuring 199 x 305 cm, is composed of densely layered and intersecting lines that evoke the underground root systems of the Yam plant, an edible and spiritually significant plant in Aboriginal culture. This work shares a lineage with Big Yam Dreaming (1995), now held in the collection of the National Gallery of Victoria, and demonstrates Kngwarreye’s profound connection to Country and the enduring cultural importance of the Yam Dreaming.
This particular painting comes with a certificate of authenticity and bears an AGOD numbered inscription on the verso. Its provenance includes acquisition directly from the artist and her family in Utopia in 1995, with a subsequent history through the Australian Gallery of Dreamings in Melbourne and a private Melbourne collection.
Kngwarreye’s radical transformation of Indigenous art over a short eight-year career continues to influence generations of artists. Wild Yam Dreaming is a powerful example of her unique visual vocabulary, spiritual depth, and formal innovation.
Discover the paintings by Emily Kame Kngwarreye at SmithDavidson Gallery, alongside works by Harland Miller, Carlos Cruz-Diez, Tommy Watson Yannima, Hanne Arends, Sam Francis and Makinti Napanangka.
