EMILY KAME KNGWARREYE - YAM DREAMING
EMILY KAME KNGWARREYE
YAM DREAMING, 1995
122 x 90.5 cm
Synthetic Polymer Paint on Canvas
REGION
Utopia, NT
PROVENANCE
Dacou Gallery, NT special event code SS119711
Gallery Savah, NSW
Private Collection, Vic
Cooee Art Leven, NSW
STORY
Emily Kame Kngwarreye is widely regarded as Australia's most important and successful Aboriginal artist. Her remarkable career lasted just seven years preceding her death in 1996, at 86 years of age. The painterly quality and originality of her works extended her influence beyond the reach of Australian Aboriginal art, attracting an international audience ready to acclaim her new and innovative contemporary style.
Emily Kngwarreye's paintings of wildflowers reflect a stage in the growth cycle of the wild yam. Emily's middle name, Kame, is taken from the yam Dreaming site at Alhalkere.
The nutritional value of the yam is hidden underground, in the swollen roots and their pod-like attachments which are difficult to locate as the plant's unpredictable growth patterns make harvest complicated and specialised. Traditionally, much effort is expended across large areas in the harvest of this valuable food.
Emily's yam story can be found in all her work, even though in some paintings the yam motif is not obvious, it lies below the surface of them all.
ARTIST PROFILE
