FIRST NATIONS FINE ART AUCTION | 17 JUNE 2025 @Greg Weight EMILY KAME KNGWARREYE (1910 - 1996) Also known as: Kngarreye, Ngwaria, Emily Kam Kngwarray Community: Utopia, Soakage Bore Outstation: Alhalkere Language: Anmatyerre Art Centre: Utopia Arts and Batik Anmatyerr woman Emily Kame Kngwarreye (Emily Kam Kngwarray) was born in Alhalker on the edge of Utopia cattle station. Preceding her professional artistic career in the late 1980’s, she worked as a batik artist for 10 years. Her career as a painter was as prolific as it was passionate; after only a few short years she had established herself internationally. She died in September 1996 leaving behind a profound and invaluable legacy which continues to grow. Over the course of her brief but prolific eight-year painting career, Kngwarreye moved through a series of distinct artistic periods. From 1989 until 1991 she painted intimate compositions, tracing plant roots interspersed with animal tracks under fine, sharp-dotted colour fields. Lot 17, Ankara Merne-Intekwe was painted in March of 1990 for her first solo exhibition and is one of the finest examples from this period. The subject, Intekwe, is considered among the most significant and distinct subjects in Kngwarreye’s oeuvre. Only a few works have been given the title of the small native bush plum that sustains the emu. The Intekwe plant (Scaevola parvifolia), is so inextricably interwoven with Kngwarreye’s identity that upon her death, Interkwe was never painted by any other artist. As her niece Violet Petyarre explained: My Auntie used to paint the fan-flower, and now we all leave that one alone. Auntie used to paint it, that one belonging to the emu. That was her own thing. Even though we all belong to the one Country, we paint separate things. These highly prized early works gave way to running dotted lines over ethereal landscapes consisting of parallel horizontal and vertical stripes representing ceremonial body painting. By 1993, Kngwarreye was painting floral imagery in a profusion of colour, often achieved by double dipping her brushes into different layers of paint. In 1995 and 1996, her painting series Anooralya (Yam) and Sacred Grasses showcase a transition from her linear body paint imagery to the expressive depiction of rambling yam roots. Kngwarreye’s Final Series consists of 24 revelatory canvases painted with large flat brushes just two weeks before her passing in 1996, mark a powerful culmination of her artistic journey. In Summer Abundance V , painted in December of 1993 (Lot 18), the application of yellow and green colours highlights the varied and changing hues in the life cycle of the Anooralya Yam and other food plants found near Alalgura on Utopia Station, west of Delmore Downs. From an aerial perspective, we see the sporadic clustered growth after a summer rain. The flourish of growth that follows is exceptional and rapid. While her preoccupation was with both the life cycle of the yam and the women’s ceremonies that celebrate its importance, Kngwarreye painted many interrelated themes, using these subjects to illustrate her Country as a whole. In an interview with Rodney Gooch, translated by Kathleen Petyarre, Kngwarreye described her subject as: Whole lot, that’s all, whole lot, awelye, arlatyeye, ankerrthe, ntange, dingo, ankerre, intekwe, anthwerle and kame. That’s what I paint: whole lot. My Dreaming, pencil yam, mountain devil lizard, grass seed, dingo, emu, small plant emu food, green bean and yam seed. Posthumously, Kngwarreye’s phenomenal body of work was chronologically curated in Margo Neale’s groundbreaking exhibition Utopia: The Genius of Emily Kngwarreye at the National Museum of Australia in 2007 and The National Gallery of Tokyo in 2008. Kngwarreye’s iconic work, Earth’s Creation I , was selected by Okwui Enwezor to be exhibited at the Venice Biennale in 2015. In recent years, Kngwarreye’s work has experienced a renewed acclaim, due in part to several significant commercial and institutional exhibitions, including Emily Kam Kngwarray  curated by Hettie Perkins and Kelli Cole for the National Gallery of Australia (NGA) and Emily: Desert Painter  held at the influential Gagosian Gallery Paris in 2023. In July of this year, the Tate Modern in London will hold a major solo retrospective, marking the most significant international exhibition dedicated to an ‘Australian’ artist. LOT 17 Ankara Merne - Intekwe, 1990 122 x 92 cm; 126 x 96 cm (framed) acrylic on linen Estimate: $450,000 - $550,000 PROVENANCE Painted in Utopia, March 1990 CAAMA Shop (Central Australian Aboriginal Media Association), Alice Springs, NT Cat No. 21-390 Utopia Art, Sydney NSW Private collection, Vic Essay by Christopher Hodges Emily Kngwarreye’s First Solo Show was held at Utopia Art Sydney in April 1990. Not surprisingly it attracted attention from contemporary collectors from across the country, a few curators and a lot of artists, many of whom still express their deep regret at an opportunity missed! Utopia Art Sydney in those days was at Stanmore at the top of two flights of stairs, and this painting was the first to come into view as you entered the gallery. Ankara Merne - Intekwe was catalogue number 6 in an exhibition of 19 paintings. It was snapped up on the opening day and its been in the same hands ever since. Rodney Gooch, Emily Kngwarreye and I had discussed the concept of a solo exhibition the previous year, and Kngwarreye began work on the show soon after but this was one of the last works to be finished for the show, painted in March 1990. It is an outstanding example from this period. Layer upon layer of fine dotting subtly reveals the underlying structure below. Earthy pinks and ochres form undulating, shifting fields. Touches of red and yellow ochre, and highlights of black and white, meld together to form a rich deep space that draws you in. You can see the very Kngwarreye touch of a few extra dots here and there that add spark and mystery to the composition. You can feel the artist working through the layers, energising the field with every mark. The sides of the canvas are painted too, with the stripes which we know represent body paint or ‘awelye’. They border the composition and though not visible when looking head on, they nevertheless add to the real presence this painting exudes. These borders were a special element that was soon to disappear, until the major breakthrough paintings of 1994 when the ‘awelye’ took centre stage. Today this painting is an absolute classic of its era, fine dotting with endless variation. Offered for the first time since it was collected 35 years ago, perfect provenance, from her First Solo Show. It’s a joy to see it again. Don’t miss the opportunity this time! Christopher Hodges April, 2025 LOT 18 SUMMER ABUNDANCE V, 1993 90 x 120 cm; 92 x 122 cm (framed) acrylic on linen $150,000 - $200,000 PROVENANCE Delmore Gallery, NT Cat No. 93L050 The Thomas Vroom Collection, The Netherlands Bonhams, Aboriginal Art: The Thomas Vroom Collection, Sydney, NSW, September 2015, Lot No. 207 Private collection, Vic Accompanied by a certificate of authenticity from Delmore Gallery Bears inscription verso: commissioned by Delmore Gallery via Alice Springs NT, 93L050, Emily Kngwarreye

FIRST NATIONS FINE ART AUCTION II JUNE 2025 This curated selection of exemplary boards from the seminal stages of the Papunya movement. They are a fine representation what is widely considered to be the birthplace of the modern First Nations art movement as we know it. The magic of these first paintings is in their direct link to their sacred, functional, and ceremonial origins. The paintings are direct translations of drawings in the sand onto canvas or board. In many cases, they represent some of the first archival recordings of an over 65,000-year-old culture. Much has been written about the genesis of the painting movement in Papunya during the early 1970s. It may in fact be the most documented and studied area of ‘Australian’ First Nations fine art, thanks in part to the expansive documentation and first-hand accounts of Geoffrey Bardon, the school teacher who helped create Papunya Tula Artists with the original group of approximately 20 ‘painting men.’ The group included John Kipara Tjakamarra (Lot 11), Old Walter Tjampitjinpa (Lots 12, 13, 15), Anatjari No. III Tjakamarra (Lot 14), and Long Jack Philippus Tjakamarra (Lot 16). LOT 11 | JOHN KIPARA TJAKAMARRA (c.1932 - 2002) WALINNGI (WOMEN CATCHING A SNAKE) , 1973 57 x 34 cm; 73 x 60 cm (framed) synthetic polymer powder paint on composition board $30,000 - $40,000 PROVENANCE Painted at Papunya, NT in 1973 Papunya Tula Artists, NT Cat No. JJ731226 Aboriginal Arts and Crafts, ACT Anvil Gallery, Albury, NSW Private collection, NSW Sotheby’s Australia, Melbourne, Vic, April 1991, Lot No. 60 Private collection, NSW Adhered verso: the Aboriginal Arts and Crafts Pty. Ltd. certificate and accompanied by the original Sotheby’s receipt EXHIBITED Aboriginal Art from Papunya, The Anvil Gallery, Albury, NSW, 1974 The influence of those formative years extends well beyond the original Papunya Tula artistic circle. It is visible not only in subsequent generations of Papunya Tula artists — such as Willy Tjungarrayi (Lot 26), Ronnie Tjampitjinpa (Lots 9, 53, 76) and Willie Tjapanangka (Lot 27) but also in the majority of paintings presented in this auction. This legacy reveals itself through shared stylistic elements, the continued use of traditional materials and techniques, and, finally, in the frameworks through which these paintings are now understood and appreciated. LOT 26 | WILLY TJUNGURRAYI (c.1936 - 2018) KIRITJINYA, TINGARI YOUNG MEN STORY , 1976 60.5 x 45.5 cm; 70 x 55 cm (framed) acrylic on canvas board $9,000 - $11,000 PROVENANCE Papunya Tula Artists, NT Cat No. WJ761071 Private Collection, Vic Accompanied by a certificate of authenticity from Papunya Tula Artists Bears inscription verso: Willy Tjungurrayi, KirKirity Kurudji, Tingari (young man) story, WJ761071, 15/14/ONII/5 When reflecting on this period, it is important to recognise that many of the artists had once lived traditional, nomadic lives—disrupted by the brutal assimilation policies imposed by the coloniser. The Papunya settlement, established in 1959, was a direct outcome of this policy. People from diverse language groups, including Luritja, Pintupi, Anmatyerr, Warlpiri, and Western Aranda, were forcibly removed from their sacred lands and gathered into the settlement. By many accounts, Papunya was marked by a collective feeling of deep loss and depression, its inhabitants severed from the cultural and spiritual landscapes that had sustained them for generations. By 1970, a vast generational divide grew between the elders, whose lives were shaped by a reality that no longer existed, and a younger generation that had lived the majority of their life in the Papunya settlement without having experienced the traditional nomadic way of life. In response to this cultural rupture, a number of senior men (soon to become the painting group) painted a series of murals on the Papunya school walls. These aimed to transmit cultural knowledge and reconnect younger generations with their heritage. The most significant of these was the Honey Ant Dreaming mural, a story shared by the various language groups residing in the settlement. From this moment, the artists transitioned from wall paintings to boards, developing a visual language through which ancestral stories could be preserved and passed on. LOT 27 | WILLIE TJAPANANGKA (1938 - 1979) EMU DREAMING STORY , 1977 40.5 x 30.5 cm; 46 x 36 cm (framed) acrylic on canvas board $6,000 - $8,000 PROVENANCE Papunya Tula Artists, NT Cat No. WB77804 Private collection, Vic Accompanied by a certificate of authenticity from Papunya Tula Artists Bears inscription verso: Willie Jabanunka, 15/25/WOII/5, 77804 Geoffrey Bardon quickly developed close relationships with the ‘painting men’. Through an open and respectful exchange, over time, he came to learn many elements of the stories they painted and the symbolic structures that underpinned them. This knowledge contributed to the creation of a foundational visual lexicon that remains profoundly relevant today. Many of the early paintings were accompanied by handwritten notes and diagrams, sometimes attached to the reverse of the artworks, providing insight into the complex meanings embedded within the imagery. By the 1980s, with Andrew Crocker taking the helm of the company in 1979, the highly annotated and didactic methods of description used by Papunya Tula Artists up to that point gave way to the more abstracted language of the wider fine art world. This new approach often cast a vague mystical sheen over the art form rather than disseminating its individual symbolic elements. Vivienne Johnson described the move as a “revolutionary shift away from the […]previous emphasis on the cultural significance of the paintings […] Crocker’s flamboyant style and this promotional strategy were effective in attracting the art world’s attention to works that had previously been thought of only in the context of ethnographic museums.”   ¹ LOT 13 | OLD WALTER TJAMPITJINPA (c.1910 - 1981) WOMEN AND SNAKES , 1973 43.5 x 23cm; 52 x 30.5 cm (framed) synthetic polymer paint on composition board $20,000 - $30,000 PROVENANCE Painted at Papunya, NT in 1973 Papunya Tula Artists, NT Cat No. 735705 Private collection, NSW Sotheby’s, Important Aboriginal Art, Melbourne, Vic, June 1999, Lot No. 311 Private collection, WA Thence by descent The Jory Family Collection, Qld Bears annotated diagram verso (right) In a statement prepared for display at Papunya Tula exhibitions, Crocker wrote: “Much could be said about the genesis of the Western Desert School and also of its role in the artists’ society. I think that for the purposes of this exhibition the paintings should be allowed to exercise their own aesthetic appeal and that explanations of content and symbolism be best kept to a minimum.” This auction presents an outstanding selection of early boards, all created by founding artists of Papunya’s art movement. Included are three exceptional early boards by Old Walter Tjampitjinpa, who was one of Geoffrey Bardon’s closest friends and confidants among the painting men. Tjampitjinpa played a pivotal role in shaping Bardon’s understanding of the emerging visual language, and his paintings remain central to the history of the movement. LOT 12 | OLD WALTER TJAMPITJINPA (c.1910 - 1981) WATER STORY , 1972 46 x 31 cm (irregular); 68 x 53 cm (framed) synthetic polymer powder paint on composition board $50,000 - $70,000 PROVENANCE Painted at Papunya, NT in 1972 Stuart Art Centre, Alice Springs, NT Cat No. 12001 Private collection, New York, USA Sotheby’s, Aboriginal Art, Melbourne, Vic, July 2004, Lot No. 409 Private collection, WA Thence by descent The Jory Family Collection, Qld Adhered verso: a certificate of authenticity from Stuart Art Centre with an annotated diagram ILLUSTRATED Geoffrey Bardon and James Bardon, Papunya: A Place Made after the Story (Miegunyah Press, 2004), p.187 (right) Old Walter was something of a gentle and kind patron in my gradually improving understanding of the Aboriginal way of life. Later he told me that he was the custodian of the Water Dreaming and his many variations on this theme afforded me knowledge of ceremonial sites and special places […] 2 Both Lot 12 (Water Story, 1972) and Lot 15 (Water Story, 1972) are stunning examples of the classic Water Dreaming. Stylistically, the key distinction between these two works lies in their approach to colour and composition. While Lot 12 is rich with dense, high-contrast dot work in vivid colours, Lot 15 adopts a more restrained palette, with finely dotted elements throughout, resulting in a minimal and more subtle composition. […] it was for Old Walter, because of his kindliness, that I felt a strong affection. He spoke in a garbled and very brief and humble manner, repeating in his paintings the simple, classic Water Man and running water images, quietly, yet with a marvellous concentration. His painting was an expression of his eternal and universal response to phenomena such as the desert storms at Kalipimpinpa. 3 LOT 15 | OLD WALTER TJAMPITJINPA (c.1910 - 1981) UNTITLED (WATER DREAMING) , 1972 61 x 40.5 cm (irregular); 72 x 51 cm (framed) synthetic polymer powder paint on composition board $50,000 - $70,000 PROVENANCE Painted at Papunya, NT in 1972 Stuart Art Centre, NT Cat No. 19218 Private collection, SA Sotheby’s, Important Aboriginal Art, Melbourne, Vic, June 1999, Lot No. 192 Private collection, WA Thence by descent The Jory Family Collection, Qld Bears inscription verso: ‘19218’ Also featured is a remarkable 1973 board by Anatjari No. III Tjakamarra (Lot 14), who was a foundational figure in the movement’s emergence, renowned for his meticulous technique and refined aesthetic. As Bardon observed, Anatjari worked with great care, employing fine sable brushes to achieve a crystalline precision in his paintings. His compositions were, rich in decorative cross hatching and dotting, intricate ceremonial designs transposed onto canvas and board, all the while drawing from the traditions of sand painting and body decoration. LOT 14 | ANATJARI No. III TJAKAMARRA (c.1938 - 1992) ORIGINS OF SOAKAGES , 1973 92 x 22.5 cm; 101 x 31.5 cm (framed) synthetic polymer paint on composition board $30,000 - $40,000 PROVENANCE Painted at Papunya, NT in 1973 Papunya Tula Artists, NT Cat No. A730808 Private collection, Vic Sotheby’s, Fine Australian, Aboriginal and International Paintings, Melbourne, Vic, November 1999, Lot No. 478 Private collection, Vic Sotheby’s, Aboriginal Art, Melbourne, Vic, July 2004, Lot No. 410 Private collection, WA Thence by descent The Jory Family Collection, Qld Adhered verso: a certificate of authenticity from Papunya Tula Artists with annotated diagram Finally, Long Jack Philippus Tjakamarra’s Water Dreaming (Lot 16), painted in 1971, the very first year of the Papunya painting movement and part of the fourth consignment of paintings is perhaps the highlight of the collection. This highly significant and beautiful board is illustrated in Geoffrey Bardon’s seminal book, Papunya - A Place Made after the Story (p.171) and is explicitly referred to in Bardon’s profile of the artist in the beginning of the book. Tjakamarra was an essential member of the original painting group, advising and assisting with the creation of the murals that ignited the movement, he painted on the walls of the school where Geoffrey Bardon taught. “He [Tjakamarra] represented the goodness and givingness always within the Aboriginal people.” 4 Samuel Sterneborg, 2025 LOT 16 | LONG JACK PHILIPPUS TJAKAMARRA (1932 - 2020) WATER DREAMING , 1971 44.5 x 22.5 cm; 67.5x 44.5 cm (framed) synthetic polymer powder paint on composition board $50,000 - $70,000 PROVENANCE Painted at Papunya, NT in November/December 1971 Stuart Art Centre, Alice Springs, NT Cat No. SAC 4 1 (Consignment 4, painting 1) Private collection, NSW Sotheby’s, Important Aboriginal Art, Melbourne, Vic, June 2002, Lot No. 166 Private collection, WA Thence by descent The Jory Family Collection, Qld Accompanied by a certificate of authenticity with annotated diagram and two letters from Geoffrey Bardon Bears inscription verso: Cat No. SAC 4 1; 3” T+S; 3 1/2 B: NAT ILLUSTRATED Geoffrey Bardon and James Bardon, Papunya: A Place Made after the Story (Miegunyah Press, 2004), p.171 (left) The elemental forms of line, dot and circle show the Water Dreaming: the line represents running water, the dotting the rain and the circles waterholes in the landscape. The traditional ‘U’ form is the Ceremonial Water Man invoking the rain. The simplicity of the design is of the earliest style used at Papunya during my time and is not unlike its sand mosaic and body paint origins. - Geoffrey Bardon ¹ Vivienne Johnson’s essay in Genesis and Genius, p.192 ² Geoffrey Bardon, Papunya Tula - Art of the Western Desert, 1991, p.28-29 ³ Geoffrey Bardon, Papunya - A Place Made after a Story, 2004, p.74 4 Geoffrey Bardon, Papunya - A Place Made after a Story, 2004, p.84

Important Works by First Nations Artists Welcome to our June 17 First Nations Fine Art Auction, featuring a thoughtfully curated selection of 82 notable works by artists of exceptional cultural and artistic influence. This auction takes place at a time of heightened global interest in First Nations art, spurred in part by the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C.’s announcement of their forthcoming landmark Indigenous exhibition, The Stars We Do Not See, opening this October. Featuring over 200 artworks on loan from the National Gallery of Victoria, this will be the largest international exhibition of Indigenous Art in the USA. The exhibition is set to tour from Washington, D.C. to Colorado, Oregon, Massachusetts and Ontario, Canada. In response to this momentum, we have assembled a collection grounded in rigorous research and supported by documented provenance, in accordance with current Australian institutional acquisition standards. While there is an ongoing and important conversation about revisiting provenance policies and recognising artists as individual agents, this auction has been curated within the existing institutional framework, ensuring all works are eligible for acquisition under current guidelines. The highlight of this sale is Lot 17: Ankara Merne - Intekwe (1990), a remarkable painting by Emily Kame Kngwarreye (Emily Kam Kngwarray) from her first solo exhibition held in 1990 at Utopia Art Sydney. This archetypal work, commissioned by Rodney Gooch for the Central Australian Aboriginal Media Association (CAAMA), is accompanied by an essay from Christopher Hodges outlining the importance of this work and its historical significance. The plant depicted, Intekwe, was considered so innately linked to Emily’s being that no other Anmatyerre artist has been permitted to paint it since her passing. This rare and exceptional work carries an estimate of $450,000 – $550,000. Another outstanding painting by Kngwarreye is  Summer Abundance V (Lot 18), from the prestigious Thomas Vroom Collection—an identifiable piece reflecting a pinnacle time in her career that carries a more modest estimate of $150,000 – $200,000. The representation of artists from Utopia is expanded through significant early career works by Minnie Pwerle (Lot 20), Gloria Petyarre (Lot 79), Kathleen Petyarre (Lot 52), and Kathleen Ngal (Lot 21). This lineage is followed to a more contemporary work by Angelina Ngal, whose luminous celestial diptych Wild Plum is offered as Lot 19, with an estimate of $40,000–$60,000. A particularly exciting feature of this auction is the early 1970s Papunya collection assembled by the former Executive Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Architecture at the University of Western Australia (UWA), Professor John Jory. Focused on the foundational years of the Western Desert painting movement, this collection offers rare insights into a pivotal moment in ‘Australian’ art history. Works from this formative period are becoming increasingly scarce on the secondary market as they are acquired by institutions, making future opportunities to purchase them exceedingly rare. Among the highlights from Jory’s collection is Water Dreaming, 1971 (Lot 16) by Long Jack Phillipus Tjakamarra, an important early work from the fourth commercial consignment of Papunya paintings sent to the Stuart Art Centre under Pat Hogan’s pioneering initiative. Other exceptional pieces include two 1972 Old Walter Tjampitjinpa boards also from the Water Story series Lot 12 and Lot 15, both estimated at $50,000–$70,000, alongside rarely seen early paintings by John Kipara Tjakamarra, titledWalinngi, 1973 (Lot 11) and Anatjari No.III Tjakamarra, Origins of Soakages, 1973 (Lot 14). The auction also includes two significant works by Rover Joolama Thomas. Small Creek Near Turkey Creek, 1990 (Lot 25), was painted during his collaboration with Perth-based dealer Mary Macha, a key supporter of the East Kimberley school and is estimated at $90,000–$100,000. Lot 10, created two years later for Waringarri Arts—the Miriwoong community’s art centre—is guided by the same deep connection to Country and is estimated at $30,000–$40,000. Joolama’s close friend and fellow artist Queenie McKenzie is represented by Lot 36, Limestone Hills, Texas (1995), while his mentor, Jack Britten, is featured with a striking suite of works collectively titled the Country Series, offered as Lot 54. Beyond these major works, several pieces stand out for their unique artistic perspectives. Among them is Lot 24, Motionless Fish by Yorta Yorta artist Lin Onus—a subtle and evocative gouache that captures a meditative stillness and quiet complexity from his iconic water series. Lot 7 features Living Water at Pikarong by Lydia Balbal, reigning winner of the Telstra NATSIAA Painting Award, whose minimal aesthetic powerfully evokes Country. Also of note is Lot 22, an exquisitely beautiful work by contemporary Balgo Hills artist Patsy Mudgedell, offered with an estimate of $16,000–$22,000. Concluding the highlights are works by various artists that stand out for their superior execution, including Betty Kuntiwa Pumani (Lot 51), Boxer Milner (Lot 6), Kunmanara (Ray) Ken (Lot 48), Eubena Nampitjin (Lot 47) and Dorothy Napangardi (Lot 28) to name just a few. With an estimated total value of between $1.42 and $1.85 million, this collection represents works that are both historically important and institutionally relevant. We are honoured to present this outstanding selection and invite you to explore the depth and cultural significance of the works on offer. We look forward to welcoming you to the viewing at Art Leven housed on Gadigal Country. Emma Lenyszyn First Nations Fine Art Specialist May, 2025

"My Bush Plum paintings represent the whole thing: all of Country.”   Born sometime between 1939 and 1947 (records are uncertain), Angelina Ngal (Ngale, Kngale), also known as Angelina Pwerle 1 , is one of the most celebrated artists from the Utopia region in central ‘Australia’. A senior Anmatyerr woman who continues to create highly intricate, minimalist artworks. Ngal and Pwerle are not last names in the Western sense of a shared family name, but skin-names referring to her kinship relationships. Utopia sits on the language boundary between Anmatyerr and Alyawarr, In Alyawarr country, Angelina is referred to as Pwerle, and in Anmatyerr country, she is referred to as Ngal. When asked about the difference between the two skin names, Angelina told author Chrischona Schmidt: “Pwerle is the same as Ngale, just in another language.” 2 Interestingly, the artist speaks only Anmatyerr and would therefore likely refer to herself as Ngal, while some institutions, including New York’s MoMa prefer the use of Pwerle. Angelina was married to Louie Pwerle, who was an artist in his own right, the elder brother of Cowboy Louie Pwerle. The artist’s creative journey began in 1977, producing batiks under the instruction of Yipati, a Pitjantjatjara artist from Ernabella and Suzie Bryce, a craft instructor. Then later through the Utopia Women’s Batik Group alongside her sisters, Kathleen and Polly Ngal. During the pivotal 1988–1989 CAAMA Summer Project, she transitioned to acrylic painting, transferring her refined batik-making skills onto canvas. Her first paintings were included in the groundbreaking Utopia Women’s Art exhibition in Alice Springs in 1990, marking her entry into the broader art world. Angelina’s art is rooted in her grandfather’s Country, Aharlper, and centres on Anwekety (Bush Plum Dreaming), a subject of profound cultural, social, and ceremonial significance. “I paint anwekety – bush plum. Little flowers ... after the rain and seeds. That’s my country, Ahalper.”   3  Her paintings convey themes of nourishment— both physical and spiritual—and celebrate the interconnectedness of land, knowledge, and memory. Early paintings feature clusters of red dots symbolising the Bush Plum, surrounded by layers of meticulously rendered coloured dots. Over time, her style evolved into finely detailed, abstract compositions that hint at sacred landmarks, ceremonial activities, and the ephemeral beauty of the landscape. Despite her steady rise in international prominence, Angelina Ngal’s recognition in ‘Australia’ has been comparatively slow. Her work has featured in prestigious exhibitions such as Marking the Infinite: Contemporary Women Artists from Aboriginal Australia  (USA and Canada, 2016-2019), Know My Name: Australian Women Artists 1900 to Now  at the National Gallery of Australia, and The Shape of Time: Art and Ancestors of Oceania  at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, which toured internationally as well as being showcased at Art Basel Miami in 2021. Her paintings are held in major public and private collections worldwide, including the National Museum of Art in Osaka, Japan, and The Debra and Dennis Scholl Collection in Miami, USA. What sets Ngal apart from her contemporaries is her exceptional ability to capture the essence of her Country and Altyerr, a skill particularly evident in her intricate dot paintings that vividly evoke Ahalper and Anwekety. According to the artist herself, “This is a constant engagement. This is a spiritual connection to place [...] My Bush Plum paintings represent the whole thing: all of Country.” 4 As noted in the Financial Times, she is an insider’s secret, “If [Emily] Kngwarreye is the A-lister and [Daniel] Walbidi is the rising star, then Angelina Pwerle is the cult favourite – one on whom a growing number of institutions and collectors are quietly placing bets.” 5 Mirri Leven, 2025 1 2 3 Schmidt, Chrischona. “Angelina Pwerle: An artist from Utopia”. Art Monthly Australasia (292): p. 34–39. August 30 2021 4 5 Stapleton, Dan F. “In praise of Australian Aboriginal art – ‘the oldest surviving culture in the world’” Financial Times. January 28 2022

Stephen Brameld and Jay Staples have mastered the practice of collaborative painting. Though extensively exhibited on the West Coast, this will be the artists’ first solo presentation in Gadigal (Sydney), hence the the show’s simple title - ‘ New Works By ’, although the name also carries an element of tongue-in-cheek. “This exhibition has not been produced lineally or intensively, but rather the collection has revealed itself to us over the last 4 years. These are heavily processed objects that have had many previous incarnations. There’s always many works in circulation that get pulled in and out of the painting frame, some works have been in the system for close to five years.” A common pitfall for painters working collaboratively is a tendency to overcrowd an image with distinctly separate stylistic elements. The imagery ist often jarring as composition buckles under the weight of warring egos. Conversely, much of ‘Australian’ First Nations art has traditionally been a largely collaborative practice. Not only were the subjects and stories shared and guarded within community groups, but, before being commodified, their execution, too, was often a collaborative endeavour. Even now, most artistic practices still pursue goals separate from personal gain (more often than not, funds are quickly distributed among communities) or creative credit and fame. If anything, elder artists are revered for the breadth and depth of their cultural knowledge rather than something as abstract as a painting ‘career’. The stories and figures in these artworks are collectively owned and their depictions are intended to share this knowledge. As in many other aspects of society, these practises foster an environment of connection, commonly placing value on community over the self. In this context, the creation of art is collaborative by definition.  In comparison, Western culture will largely elevate the individual over the collective. Art-making especially, is framed as a lonely pursuit. Yet, collaborative creation necessitates a degree of separation from the ego.  Brameld and Staples, too, aim for something outside of themselves. “[…] we feel like we are working towards common ground, a shared vision doesn’t emerge per se, but it feels as though we are able to work off each other towards a collective vision.” Up close, their process can appear almost violent. Where some painters may take turns approaching the easel, making a few marks, and yielding to the other, Brameld and Staples set upon their canvas* simultaneously and with swift, almost frantic movements, at times breaking into furious flurries of relentless brushstrokes. “Processing concluded with a circular saw run through the middle of it[…]”**  With no set goal, the path can be a battle of attrition, requiring patience as well as sacrifice (it is common for a project to be destroyed, sometimes for its parts to be rearranged, or to become an organ donor to the benefit of other works). “They speak to the clarity provided by perseverance, the benefit of working through something.” While much gets buried under paint or covered with debris, cut out or turned inside out, nothing goes to waste during the act. Every absence is a meaningful element of the work, and the evidence remains visible in the richly layered and deeply scarred surfaces. Yet, from the chaos emerge  delicately balanced compositions that can appear almost minimalist. To say that the two artists mirror the act of conversation in their practice can feel, to some degree, reductive. In the process of a work’s creation, the two artists’ brushstrokes gain the immediacy of a thousand half-formed notions and budding ideas flowing freely between two minds unburdened of the constricting process of assigning them names. Not only do they seemingly translate the act of thinking into a physical act, they turn it into a dance of conscious and unconscious thought. “There’s never an obvious solution, it needs to sneak  up on you, and somehow we both see it.” – Essay by Sam Sterneborg *’canvas’ used here in the broader sense, considering the variety of media used **in reference to ‘Football Guernsey’, 2024, p.12-15

Bonnie Connelly  Nakara was born in 1936, at Illurpa, a place near Blackstone in the Ngaanyatjarra lands, Western Australia.  Her family moved to the Walka area when she was young. Walka is a significant site as it at the confluence of the Tjala   Tjukkurpa ( Honey Ant Country) and the Minyma Kutjara Tjukkurpa  (Two Women creation story). Both depicted in Bonnie’s paintings.  Using a delicate dry-brush technique, Nakara brings to life the rich textures of the desert landscape that she has called home for a lifetime. Born near Papulankuja (Blackstone in Western Australia), she has traveled extensively across the remote Ngaanyatjarra lands, drawing inspiration from her deep cultural knowledge, ancestral connections, and the vast familial networks that weave through the desert. Adults from left to right: Alison, Dianne, Marlene, and children at the cave at Walka, and at Minyma Kutjara site, 17 December 2025 Photo  by Remy Faint. Minyma Kutjara  (Two Women) Tjukurrpa—a significant creation story that maps the land from South Australia through the Central Desert to Kaltukatjara (Docker River) in the Northern Territory. This powerful narrative, central to women’s law and ceremony carrying immense cultural significance. T he Minyma Kutjara  (Two Women) story is unique to the Walka area. It is a creation story that follows two sisters as they separate from their ten siblings and journey deep into the country. Bonnie's children walking to the Minyma Kutjara  site, 17 December 2025. Photo by Remy Faint.  Their journey takes them to Walka, known as Tjalaku-Ngurra  (Honey Ant Country), where the sisters stop to dig for honey ants. One sister kneels to dig while carrying a coolamon—a shallow, curved-sided dish—on her head to collect the honey ants. She can still be seen there today, now transformed into a rock formation. The other sister dug deeper and has become submerged into the hill. The honey ant eggs, unearthed by the sisters in their search, are scattered across the surrounding hillside as white rocks.  Bonnie’s eldest daughter, Marlene, says that Bonnie knows the songline and the  Tjukurpa  for that area. “Mum grew up here, and her brother was born there,” making it a place of deep significance for her.  Marlene remembers the time she spent with Bonnie at Walka as a child. A nearby cave, which provided shelter for the family when it rained, features ancient rock art of the Honey Ant Tjukurpa  and the Two Sisters Tjukurpa— evidence of the timescale this story is a part of, passed from one generation to the next.  B onnie conveys this knowledge through the intricacies of her paintings, which now live on through another pair of sisters—Marlene and Dianne, two of her six children. The custodianship of The Two Sisters story and the Walka area has passed from Bonnie to her children. As a senior artist, proud great-grandmother, and strong cultural woman, her paintings serve as a legacy for them and future generations, preserving the eternal story lines within their  Tjukurpa —a path to follow long after she is gone.  Map of the Walka and Kaltukatjara Region, February 2025. Graphic by Reuben Jacob

For Art Leven, this year was marked by an exciting transformation. Rebranding from Cooee Art to Art Leven, we embraced a forward-thinking approach while staying true to our values of promoting Indigenous art ethically and authentically. The rebrand reflects our vision to foster deeper connections with artists and audiences while continuing to showcase First Nations art both locally and internationally. The ‘Australian' First Nations art market has seen significant developments in 2024, continuing its upward trajectory with both local and international recognition. A standout moment for the industry was the announcement of Emily Kame Kngwarreye's major exhibition at the Tate Modern in London in 2025. This exhibition solidifies Kngwarreye's standing as one of the most influential artists globally, further highlighting the importance of First Nations art on the world stage. Our auction results in 2024 were strong, with our First Nations Fine Art Auction on November 12th achieving impressive results. The auction saw a high percentage of works sold, with notable pieces by artists such as Lin Onus and Emily Kngwarreye leading the sales. The top 10 artworks sold in the auction market included three by Lin Onus, one by Ginger Riley, and six by Emily Kngwarreye, three of which were sold by us in our November auction.  More broadly, while the total market revenue was lower than the past two years, as expected, the number of artworks offered was the highest on record. First Nations art represented 9.8% of the Australian auction market, earning $12.94 million out of $132 million. 1,719 Indigenous artworks were offered, with an average sale price of $7,528, reflecting broader trends in the industry. From the market data, it's clear that while the Indigenous art sector saw an increase in the number of works offered, it faced challenges in revenue, reflecting a broader trend in the Australian auction market. Despite this, the sector's representation remains significant, with continued notable presence from top artists like Lin Onus and Emily Kngwarreye. The overall market appears to be stabilising with a slight dip in overall sales, but with sustained interest in high-quality works by leading First Nations artists. Our 2024 exhibition program showcased a balanced mixture of solo and group shows in partnership with art centres, as well as solo exhibitions by represented artists. Among the latter were highly successful exhibitions by Gadigal artist Konstantina, whose sellout exhibition was followed by a special showing at Parliament House and an announcement of her collaboration with the British Museum. Darwin based artist Joshua Bonson's A ncestors Footsteps, themed around a quasi-pilgrimage to the artist’s ancestral Torres Strait Islands, and It Flows  by award-winning artist Joanne Currie Nalingu.  Art Leven also presented first-time solo exhibitions for seasoned artists in Amy Loogatha Rayarriwarrtharrbayingathi Mingungurra, in partnership with Mornington Island Arts and Biddy Timms Napanangka, who has been painting for Warnayaka Arts almost since the art centre’s beginnings.  2024 was also host to a number of interesting collaborations, including Who x Who, in conjunction with our neighbours in ANIBOU. furniture and Strutt Studios. It also marked the second consecutive year that we housed the Oceanic Art Fair and the illustrious Paddington Art Prize. Finally, our Sydney Contemporary booth showcased the first comprehensive retrospective exhibition of the great Warlpiri artist Lily Jurrah Hargraves Nungurrayi, which included works sourced from private and commercial collections across the globe. Warlpiri Master was   accompanied by an illuminating catalogue featuring in-depth essays by multiple authors on the life and career of the celebrated and important artist. Looking ahead, we are excited to continue elevating, preserving, and celebrating First Nations art in 2025 and beyond, with increased engagement from both new and seasoned collectors, institutions, and global audiences. We hope you enjoy the holidays and stay tuned in the coming weeks for the announcement of our much-anticipated exhibition program for 2025.

Against a backdrop of economic uncertainty, Art Leven [formerly Cooee Art], the continent’s oldest exhibiting Indigenous-focused art gallery and the only such specialised auction house, achieved impressive results in its inaugural auction under the new branding. The November 12th First Nations Fine Art Auction delivered strong results for artworks by established and emerging artists alike. As a full room of bidders and enthusiasts gathered at Art Leven’s Redfern showroom, a vibrant energy accompanied competitive bidding and keen interest sustained throughout the evening.  The auction presented an array of pieces from pioneers of the movement alongside emerging voices and fast rising stars. The selection underscored Art Leven’s staunch commitment to ethical standards with a strong emphasis on provenance. Achieving a 75% clearance rate by volume was above all expectations in the current economic climate, while a 109% sale rate by value confirms that the high end of the market remains robust. Leading off the offering was a small yet powerful piece by Emily Kame Kngwarreye (Kam Kngwarray), which sparked intense bidding and ultimately realised close to double its high estimate, certifying her status as a favourite among serious collectors. Measuring only 55 x 75.5 cm, Lot 1 carried an estimate of $30,000 –$40,000 and sold for $78,000 on the hammer ($97,500 incl. buyer’s premium). Kngwarreye’s success was mirrored with Lot 9 and Lot 17 , the latter selling for $330,000 ($412,500 incl. buyer’s premium) against an estimate of $140,000 –$160,000. Other established names also resonated strongly with collectors, Bill Whiskey Tjapaltjarri’s work Rock Holes Near the Olgas ( Lot 27 ) reached a hammer price of $28,000 for a 125 x 91 cm canvas, marking the highest price for a work under 180 cm. Lot 10 , a 1972 Papunya board with a rarely-granted export permit, presented good value via internet bidding at $137,500. A small 1988 bark by John Mawurndjul fetched $14,000 on the hammer, more than double the price of any comparably scaled work sold on the secondary market. In addition to established market heavyweights, the auction highlighted a dynamic selection of works from emerging First Nations artists, with many pieces significantly outperforming estimates. This new generation brought contemporary themes and fresh perspectives that captured the attention of younger collectors—a promising indicator for the future of First Nations art in the secondary market. Ngirpanta , 2021 by Patju Presley ( Lot 37 ) sold for a hammer of $14,000, doubling the estimated price. Queensland artist Joanne Currie Nalingu’s 2010 piece Dusk River II sold for the high estimate after a back and forth between a bidder in the room and a telephone bidder. The success across generations encapsulates Art Leven’s role in not only presenting the most renowned artists but also in supporting the next wave of First Nations talent. The results confirm Art Leven’s market leadership, reflecting collector confidence in the cultural significance and investment value of these works despite economic challenges. With strong performances across both established and emerging artists, the November 12 auction underscored the rich depth and diversity of First Nations art and highlighted Art Leven’s essential role in connecting these works with an appreciative and expanding global audience.

It's a Wrap! Two years after his death, the late Rod Menzies’ collection of Australian Aboriginal art has been sold in its entirety. Menzies’ flirtation with Australian Aboriginal art began in 1999, when he hired Melbourne specialist Vivien Anderson to break into the increasingly lucrative Aboriginal art market that had grown from $715,000 in 1994 to $5.4 million. Anderson held only 2 sales in 1999 and 2000. In 2003 Menzies charged Aboriginal art dealer Adrian Newstead with the task of heading Menzies’ Aboriginal art department. In a self-described audacious move, Newstead widened the range of art on offer, securing works through his extensive dealer network. With Christies and Mossgreen entering the market in 2004, Australian Aboriginal art sales grew from $6.9 million at the start of the millennium to $26.5 million by 2007 with 60% generated through Adrian Newstead’s Menzies, and Tim Klingender’s Sotheby’s, sales. In 2008, with the Global Financial Crisis, Newstead, and Menzies parted ways. The art bubble had burst and several competitors departed the field while others were in decline. The secondary market for Aboriginal art dropped year on year until it reached its’ nadir in 2014 at just $5.7 million. Nine years later in 2017, Cooee Art Auctions debuted, with Newstead and then business partner Mirri Leven at the helm. The venture began with a bang when Emily Kngwarreye’s Earth’s Creation I, sold for $2.1 million. The painting, which set the Australian record price for any Aboriginal artwork in 2017, is still the most valuable painting ever sold by any Australian Female artist. In its first year operating as an auction house Cooee’s sales topped $2.6 million. Leven is now sole owner of the gallery and, going forward, head of the auction house. With the death of Rod Menzies in April 2022, the Menzies heirs agreed to entrust Newstead with the task of disbursing the father’s extensive 240 work Aboriginal art collection. Though he had sold his share of Cooee art to Mirri Leven by February 2023, Newstead remained in his position as head specialist on The Rod Menzies deaccession sales Parts I and II, which were held in November 2023 and March 2024. The sales realised a total of $3 million incl BP with 100% of all lots sold.

EMILY KAME KNGWARREYE (1910 - 1996) Also known as: Kngarreye, Ngwaria, Emily Kame Kngwarraye Community: Utopia, Soakage Bore Outstation: Alhalkere Language: Anmatyerre Art Centre: Utopia Arts and Batik Anmatyerr woman Emily Kame Kngwarreye (Emily Kam Kngwarray) was born in Alhalker on the edge of Utopia cattle station. Preceding the start of her professional painting career in the late 1980’s, she worked as a batik artist for 10 years. Her career as a painter was as prolific as it was passionate; after only a few short years she had established herself internationally. She died in September 1996 leaving behind a profound and invaluable legacy which continues to grow. Emily Kame Kngwarreye, often referred to simply as ‘EMILY,’ had her name adjusted to Emily Kam Kngwarray ahead of the National Gallery of Australia’s 2023 retrospective. This contentious new spelling, described as aligning with “the most up-to-date conventions” will also feature in the artist’s solo retro-spective at the Tate Modern in London, scheduled for July 2025. Kngwarreye moved through a series of artistic periods in her short yet prolific eight-year career. From 1989 until 1991 she painted intimate tracking and animal prints interspersed under fine, sharp-dotted colour fields. These highly prized early works gave way to running dotted lines over ethereal landscapes consisting of parallel horizontal and vertical stripes representing ceremonial body painting. By 1993, she was painting floral images in a profusion of colour by double dipping brushes into layers of paint. In 1995 and 1996 Kngwarreye’s painting series ‘Anooralya (Yam)’ and ‘Sacred Grasses’ show her lineal body painting imagery yield to scrambling yam roots. Kngwarreye’s ‘Final Seres’ consisting of 24 revelatory canvases painted with large flat brushes just two weeks before her passing in 1996. LOT 17 Alalgura (My Country), 1994 89.5 x 151 cm; 93.5 x 154.5 cm (framed) acrylic on linen Estimate: $140,000 - $160,000 PROVENANCE Delmore Gallery, NT Cat No. 94J004 Australian & Oceanic Art Gallery, Qld Private collection, SA Accompanied by a certificate of authenticity from Delmore Gallery While her preoccupation was with both the life cycle of the yam and the women’s ceremonies celebrating its importance, Emily painted many interrelated themes using these subjects to illustrate her country as a whole. In an interview with Rodney Gooch, translated by Kathleen Petyarre, Knwarreye described her subject as ‘ Whole lot, that’s all, whole lot, awelye, arlatyeye, ankerrthe, ntange, dingo, ankerre, intekwe, anthwerle and kame. That’s what I paint: whole lot. My Dreaming, pencil yam, mountain devil lizard, grass seed, dingo, emu, small plant emu food, green bean and yam seed. ’ Posthumously, Kngwarreye’s phenomenal oeuvre was chronologically curated in Margo Neale’s groundbreaking exhibition, ‘Utopia: The Genius of Emily Kngwarreye’ at the National Museum of Australia in 2007 and The National Gallery of Tokyo in 2008. Her mammoth ‘Earth’s Creation I’ was selected by Okwui Enwezor to be exhibited at the Venice Biennale in 2015. In recent years, Kngwarreye’s work has experienced a further surge, in part due to a host of commercial and institutional exhibitions, including ‘Emily Kam Kngwarray’ curated by Hetti Perkins and Kelli Cole for the NGA and ‘Emily: Desert Painter’ held at the influential Gagosian Gallery Paris in 2023. The four mid-career works offered in this auction (Lots 1, 9, 17 and 72) are excellent examples of Kngwarreye’s work for Delmore Gallery, each a luminous celebration of her country. With her status as an elder and senior law holder of Country during a seminal time in social history, works of this calibre are becoming increasingly important to her artistic legacy. These works pay reverence to the sacredness of the Earth, the seasons, vegetation, her spiritual ancestors, and the ceremonies that Emily Kame Kngwarreye engaged with in her daily life.

acrylic on composition board (Masonite) 71.5 × 68 cm; 83 x 79.5 cm (framed) Estimate $110,000 - $140,000 PROVENANCE Painted at Papunya, NT, c. 1972 Seddell McLean, Vic acquired in the late 1970s thence by decent in 2010 Private collection, Vic D’Lan Contemporary, Vic Cat No. INV-TJAA-0006   EXHIBITED Significant-2023 Part One, D’Lan Contemporary, Melbourne, Vic, 2 June - 22 July 2023 Essay by John Kean This unusual painting appeared without a detailed provenance, its treatment and material qualities suggested that it might have been painted at Papunya 1971-1972. Its significance stems from the possibility that a renowned artist created it during the founding of contemporary desert art. While several of the painting’s pictorial elements are common to other early Papunya boards, others are unique and as a consequence, raise the bar required for positive attribution. Yet the object’s material qualities are compelling, for they are redolent of the properties of well-known and definitively provenance paintings produced at Papunya in the second half of 1972. While I was initially wary of its authenticity, the painting’s idiosyncratic iconography demanded attention. If a founding Papunya artist, as suggested, created the work, the painting would substantially expand the already impressive range and scope of treatments employed by the 25 artists who founded contemporary art in Central Australia. After detailed examination together with Luke Scholes, I concluded the painting was, in all likelihood painted by a founding Papunya artist. There follows a summary of the reasoning behind my contention. Period The painting is most likely to have been created in a period that Vivien Johnson has characterised by as the ‘interregnum’.1 The interregnum commences in August 1972, with the departure of Geoffrey Bardon; a teacher widely attributed with facilitating the emergence of painting at Papunya and concludes with the employment of Peter Fannin as the first art advisor under the Papunya Tula Artists banner in December of that year. Paintings produced during the interregnum are frequently experimental, for the artists were working in advance of the conventions that came to characterise Papunya Tula painting as a recognisable style. Moreover, the artists worked in the Men’s Painting Room without the intervention of a non-Indigenous advisor.2 Excited and working with extraordinary freedom, the artists innovated, inventing diverse approaches to the articulation of icons and decorative application. Some elements of these early Papunya painting, most notably, the imbrication of background patterns to form an expansive overall schema were used for a short period, then abandoned in favour of the now familiar dotted approach. Working as a collective, the artists called on elements drawn from ceremonial life, while taking inspiration from the innovations of the peers - the period resulted in a ‘blooming of a hundred flowers.’3   Many of the works created during the interregnum were subsequently documented and dispatched by Patricia Hogan, director of the Stuart Centre in Alice Springs, who at that moment, was the sole representative of the Papunya artists. Thus the majority of paintings produced during the period were lumped into Consignment 19, the largest and most diverse of the early consignments to have left Papunya. The stylistic mysteries of the consignment have yet to be fully disentangled.   Another consequence of the independence with which the founding artists operated during at the interregnum was the freedom with which they could sell their work to whom they pleased. A select group of customers consisted of an assortment of non-Aboriginal settlement workers and government officials. Other buyers were found among the visitors who stayed with friends and family members working at Papunya. As a result of these arbitrary acquisitions, an unknown number of undocumented paintings left the community to be transported to disparate locations, where they hung on study walls, or stored for decades, unsighted in a dark cupboard. Now, a full half-century after their acquisition, such paintings are occasionally uncovered in the estates of those who lived at or visited Papunya - undocumented jewels whose provenance is lost with the passing of a painting’s original purchaser. In these instances, the authenticity of a particular work must be assayed by the object’s material, iconographic and stylistic qualities. Such is the case with this mysterious board. Materiality The humble materials used in this work are typical of the interregnum. The Masonite substrate was a proprietary product used in many buildings on the community. Bardon and the artists had developed the restricted palette typical of paintings produced at Papunya. The paint in this work - black, deep red-oxide and white - is typical of works produced in the Men’s Painting Room in 1972. Notably, each line and dot is created with a stroke of carefully thinned paint. Despite having painted for such a short period, the artists approached their task with confidence. A close examination of any detail of the work reveals the direction and pressure of each stroke. The brushstrokes are typical of the most proficient of the early Papunya artists. The paint is often semi-transparent, and modulation of tone (both between various marks and within a single stroke of the brush) is critical to my confidence that the painting was created at Papunya in 1972.   Variations in transparency and the frequency of the dotted surface produce an uneven, shimmering surface typical of artists of this period. Johnny Warangkula Tjupurrula first developed the effect of massed dots to evoke shimmering meteorological qualities associated with the Water Dreaming at Kalipinypa.4 The proficiency required to produce such attractive shimmering effects narrows the number of artists likely to have produced this work. Inspired by Warangkula’s ground breaking innovation, Anatjarri Tjakamarra, John Tjakamarra, Kaapa Tjampitjinpa, Mick Namarari Tjapaltjarri, Tim Leura Tjapaltjarri, Timmy Payunka Tjapangati and Yala Yala Gibson Tjungurrayi produced exceptional paintings whose icons were embedded in a scintillating field of dots.   The back of the current work is cryptic, for there are no catalogue numbers or gallery labels to suggest or confirm the painting’s provenance. A simple baton has been attached to the Masonite from which a rough copper wire has been slung. The support structure is aged, unassuming and improvised. This utilitarian treatment is consistent with a work that has been purchased directly from the artist and hung with little fuss by the painting’s purchaser.   Iconography This painting’s unique iconography is especially intriguing. When I was made aware of the painting in mid 2022, (via digital photographs taken on mobile phone), three dominant, rather eccentric icons initially raised my suspicion - they felt just too odd. Firstly, the large black negative space, with its crooked line and curious grouping of outfacing bird prints (small red arrows) is striking, yet unfamiliar. Further the helicopter blade-shaped icon at the painting’s centre is quite unlike anything I had previously seen in a Papunya painting. Surely no one who wanted to fake and early Papunya board would use such uncharacteristic icons. Thirdly, the ‘pear-shaped’ object at the bottom of the board felt more familiar but took some untangling, before I could begin to interpret its form.   After some time however, I recognised that the general form and striated decoration of the pear-shaped object corresponded with character and incised treatment of a pearl shell pendant, such as those traded across the desert from Broome to be used as objects of power in rainmaking ceremonies. The identification of this object as a pearl shell informs my subsequent interpretation of the work. When understood as representing a pearl shell, the overlapping ‘umbilical’ line could be read as a hair-string belt to which the nacre was attached, particularly if the loop (adjacent and immediately right of the top of the proposed shell) provided a means of attachment, through which the other end of the hair-string would be tied around a performers’ waist.   The painting’s background treatment feels more familiar. I contend the conjunction between the expansive underlying zigzag pattern and the pearl shell reinforces the painting’s subject as a Water Dreaming, and point towards a likely artist. But before jumping to any attribution, it is important to emphasise the underlying zigzag pattern is more redolent of the Pintupi art of the Western Desert than it is of the Anmatyerr artists of Central Australia thus eliminating at least two potential artists listed above.   Of the Pintupi painters, Johnny Warangkula is most powerfully associated with the Water Dreaming themed paintings, nonetheless Warangkula’s Water and bush tucker story (1972) possesses several similar features to the current work by an unknown artist: these features include a pearl shell shape (the imbricated shape at the painting’s centre), attenuated undulating lines (top) that are similar to the zigzag lines in the recently un-covered work, and a scintillating dotted surface. While I am confidant the current work is not by Warangkula, the correlation of shared attributes described above indicates its subject is probably Water Dreaming. The elimination of Warangkula further reduced the list of likely artists to Anatjarri Tjakamarra, John Tjakamarra, Mick Namarari Tjapaltjarri, Timmy Payunka Tjapangati and Yala Yala Gibson Tjungurrayi.   Of the above artists, Mick Namarari painted several Water Dreaming subjects, however he tended to utilise a form of relaxed symmetry that is entirely absent this painting. Moreover, Namarari’s paintings generally reach a more harmonic resolution than is the case with the current work. In contrast, Timmy Payunka Tjapangati always sought varity to his subject manner over the search for aesthetic resolution. Like Namarari, Timmy Tjapangati created Water Dreaming paintings during the period in question; see ‘Big Rain Story’ and ‘Ngapa Tjukurrpa’ (Water Dreaming). Further, Timmy Tjapangati painted with a notably individuality, surely a defining quality of the artist who created the work under question. Further weight as to Timmy Tjapangati being a probable artist comes with the painting’s combination of geometric elements from the Western Desert with the more familiar dotted treatments, an identifiable property of several of Timmy Tjapangati early boards. Returning for a moment to the painting’s curious ‘pearl shell’ element, the organic shape of the associated hair string ‘belt’ is reminiscent of several biomorphic figures in Tjapangati’s paintings and painted artefacts. In summary, the proficiency, subject manner, together with the combination of disparate stylistic traditions, and the eccentricity exhibited in this work are distinguishing attributes that can be found in Timmy Tjapangati’s paintings of the 1970s.   Timmy Payunka Tjapangati was a mercurial figure, sometimes camping to the west of Papunya though frequently travelling several hundred kilometers to the northwest to stay with relatives in Balgo. Tjapangati was an exceptional artist who, until the last phase of his career did not paint in a consistent style. His edgy paintings, while difficult to corral into a single neat category, are quite unlike those of any other Pintupi artist. According to my reasoning, the eccentricity of this work, which in all probability represents Water Dreaming suggests that it was painted by a singular artist, who even within the experimental excitement of the Men’s Painting Room was brave enough to stretch the emerging conventions. Timmy Payunka Tjapangati was a proud man of high degree. Of all the individuals present at the Men’s Painting Room during the interregnum, I believe Timmy Payunka Tjapangati was is most likely to have painted the current work.   1 Vivien Johnson, Once Upon a Time in Papunya, University of New South Wales Press, Sydney, 2010.   2 See Bardon’s description of his own interventions in Geoffrey Bardon and James Bardon, Papunya: A Place Made After the Story: The Beginnings of the Western Desert Painting Movement, The Miegunyah Press, Melbourne, 2004.   3 See Kean 2023, Johnson 2010, Bardon 2004, Scholes 2017   4 Kean, 2023

Unwrapping and discovering new artworks as they come in is one of our favourite parts of what we do here at Art Leven [formerly Cooee Art]. In the packing room today, we have works from Mirndiyan Gununa Artists on Mornington Island, Warakurna Art Centre and Martumili Artists. If you'd like a sneak preview, visit the gallery or contact our helpful team . Region: North Queensland Country:  Lookati (Bentinck) Community:  Mornington Island Language:  Kayardild Art Centre:  Mirndiyan Gununa Artists "This is my Country on Bentinck Island at Oak Tree Point. We call it Lookati in our Kayardild language. I was born here at Bilmee, Dog Story Place.“I paint the story places, all different places, true story places. We learned these from the old people. We learned what’s not for touching. They tell us what it means. We do this so we can pass these stories down to our grandchildren while we’re still alive. They love to hear our stories because of the olden time Dreamtime stories and dancing. There are lots of things that I remember to tell in stories.“I am happy to show other people My Country and Culture. It brings a smile to my face when I finish an artwork and see a part of me on it.”   - Birmuyingathi Maali Netta Loogatha Region:  Western Desert Country:  Ngaanyatjarra Lands Community:  Warakurna, Wanarn & Patjarr Art Centre:  Warakurna Art Centre The Western Desert is considered by many to be the birthplace of the modern Aboriginal art movement - usually referring to the style many define as ‘dot paining’. It was in Papunya that the first group of Pintupi elders began using acrylic paint to record aspects of their culture on canvas in the early 1970s. Papunya was predominantly made up of Pintupi, Luritja, Walpiri, Arrernte, and Anmatyerre peoples, displaced by the Australian Government to the ‘settlement’ 240 km northwest of Alice Springs (Mparntwe).   "This painting is about Dorcas Bennett’s Mother’s country. Her mother, Nyurapayia Nampitjinpa, “Mrs Bennett” painted extensively on this subject and here Dorcas reflects on her mother’s work and country and her own connection to this part of the lands." Per Warakurna certificate Region:  Pilbara, WA Country:  Percival Lakes, WA Community:  Parnpajinya (Newman), Jigalong, Parnngurr, Punmu, Kunawarritji, Irrungadji and Warralong Art Centre:  Martumili Artists "Pirrkili is a rockhole surrounded in all directions by permanent tali (sandhills), located east of Nyayartakujarra (Lake Dora) and south of Punmu Aboriginal community. Linyji (claypans) such as Pirrkili were traditionally visited more often during the wantajarra (wet season) when they were filled with water. "This site lies within Nyanjilpayi’s ngurra (home Country, camp) through her uncle and grandmother, and forms part of the area which she knew intimately and travelled extensively in her youth. The Western Desert term ‘ngurra’ is hugely versatile in application. Broadly denoting birthplace and belonging, ngurra can refer to a body of water, a camp site, a large area of Country, or even a modern house. People identify with their ngurra in terms of specific rights and responsibilities, and the possession of intimate knowledge of the physical and cultural properties of one’s Country. This knowledge is traditionally passed intergenerationally through family connections. Painting ngurra, and in so doing sharing the Jukurrpa (Dreaming) stories and physical characteristics of that place, has today become an important means of cultural maintenance. Physical maintenance of one’s ngurra, like cultural maintenance, ensures a site’s wellbeing, and is a responsibility of the people belonging to that area." per Martumili Artists certificate.