Available Artworks
Emily Pwerle
Body Paint Design & Desert Grasses - 2005
synthetic polymer paint on canvas
122.0 x 91.0 cm
EST. $5,000 - $7,000
MP #735
Provenance
Aboriginal Gallery of Dreamings, Vic Cat. No. 11516
Ebes Collection, Vic
accompanied by a certificate booklet from Aboriginal Gallery of Dreamings and a photo of the artist with the artwork
Emily Pwerle began painting during a workshop held at Ultja station in 2004. Her extended family are all artists including her sister the late Minnie Pwerle, and her sisters Molly and Gayla, and Minnie's daughter Barbara Weir. Minnie Pwerle, who began painting in 1999, took a close and supportive role in the development of her younger sisters when they began painting 5 years later.
This bold linear pattern of intertwined stripes and curves represents the Women's Ceremony body paint design and evokes its shimmer as women dance by firelight. After smearing their bodies with animal fat, the women trace these designs onto their breasts, arms and thighs singing as each woman has a turn to be ‘painted up’.
The songs relate to the Dreamtime stories of Ancestral Travel and other plants, animals and natural forces. Awelye - Women's Ceremony - demonstrates respect for the land and in performing these ceremonies they ensure well being and happiness within the communities. Atnwengerrp is Emily Pwerle's Country.