EMILY KAME KNGWARREYE - MY COUNTRY

 EMILY KAME KNGWARREYE
MY COUNTRY,  1994
168 x 130 cm (174 x 136 cm framed)
Synthetic Polymer Paint on Belgian Linen
 
PROVENANCE
Utopia, NT
Utopia Art (Central Land Council), NT Cat No. UAEK835938Private Collection, Vicsigned Emily versoLITERATUREHank Ebes (ed.), Nangara: The Australian Aboriginal Art Exhibition from the Ebes Collection, Melbourne: The Aboriginal Gallery of Dreamings, 1996, Cat. No.299 
 
STORY
In this highly dramatic work, the application of red, white, and grey colours highlight the varied and changing hues in the life cycle of the Anooralya Yam and the seasonal change that comes when storms build and bring rain to the the dry desert landscape near Alalgura on Utopia Station, west of Delmore Downs. The thick textured fusion of deep red and pink hues gives a concentrated view of the desert's food sources after rain. Often hidden from view, these seed, fruit, and root vegetables are enormously bountiful. The requirement to understand the life cycles of all bush foods is necessary to the survival of Alyawerre and Anmatjerre people.The Anooralya Yam is the most important plant in Emilyā€™s custodianship. This hardy and fertile plant provides both a tuber vegetable and a seed bearing flower called Kame (Emilyā€™s tribal name). As the plant dies off above the ground, the yam tuber can be found underground.This work evokes the build up of an approaching storm. The rain falls and water slowly flows along the broad shallow watercourse and replenishes the soakage at Alalgura. The flourish of growth that follows is exceptional and rapid. The dramatic transformation of the desert from bare to abundant is a display of the desert's power. Linked into this is women's ceremonial life called 'awelye' that is based on the belief that they help nurture the desert food sources by assuring future fertile generations.
 
EXHIBITED
EXHIBITEDNangara: The Australian Aboriginal Art Exhibition from the Ebes Collection, Stichting Sint-jan, Brugge, Belgium, 1996The Australian Aboriginal Art Exhibition, Hokkaido Asahikawa Museum of Art, Asahikawa, Japan; Tochigi Prefectual Museum of Fine Arts, Utsunomiya, Japan; Iwaki City Art Museum, Iwaki, Japan,  2001; Shimonoseki Prefectural Art Museum, Japan, 2001Dreamtime - Aboriginal Art from the Ebes Collection, Arken Museum of Modern Art, Ishoj, Copenhagen, Denmark, 2006. (10th Anniversary Exhibition)