EMILY KAME KNGWARREYE - ARLATYITE DREAMING - BUSH POTATO DREAMING
EMILY KAME KNGWARREYE
ARLATYITE DREAMING - BUSH POTATO DREAMING, 1995
122 x 183cm
synthetic polymer paint and natural earth pigments on canvas
PROVENANCE
Utopia, NT
Utopia Art, Alice Springs, NT Lawson Menzies Lot 59 May 2005 Tjala Aboriginal Art, Sydney, NSWCoo-ee Aboriginal Art, Bondi, NSW
STORY
The network of lines traces the patterns of root growth of the finger yam, Anooralya and celebrates the Yam Dreaming for which Emily was custodian.The lines can also be related to Awelye where the body paint is replicated on the skin for ceremony.Always linked to Emilyā€™s validity of expression is Awelye, the ceremonial expression that releases the spiritual power that maintains naturesā€™ fertility and hardiness. Body painting lines are fundamental to the participatory role of women in ceremony. This practise is symbolically linked to this work and helps evoke an atmosphere of ceremony. The belief that good seasons always return, that yam ā€�always comes backā€™, is fundamental to understanding the desert environment and therefore survival. A parallel layer of expression runs with the fundamental understanding of Awelye, that being of basic human nature, understanding it, and abiding by the rules set down by society in order that it too, will survive.
EXHIBITED
The Collectors Edition, August 2015, Coo-ee Art Gallery
