Emily Kam Kngwarray

Tickets are now on sale for the National Gallery of Australia’s major summer exhibition Emily Kam Kngwarray.

Showing between December 2, 2023 and April 28, 2024, this survey exhibition celebrates the timeless art of Emily Kam Kngwarray—preeminent Australian artist and one of the world’s most significant contemporary artists to emerge in the early twentieth century.

A senior Anmatyerr woman from Utopia (north-east of Mparntwe/Alice Springs, central Australia), the unprecedented trajectory of Kngwarray’s recognition and fame as an artist is well known, way beyond the Country of her origins. Kngwarray’s power and cultural authority is outstandingly revealed in the works of art themselves.

Co-curated by Kelli Cole, Warumunga and Luritja peoples, and Hetti Perkins, Arrernte and Kalkadoon peoples, Emily Kam Kngwarray brings together important works of Kngwarray’s career, from early vibrant batiks to her later monumental paintings. Many never-before-seen works are included in this exhibition, along with new acquisitions of Kngwarray’s seminal works in the national collection.

“Kngwarray created thousands of works of art that drew from the vast cultural reservoir of knowledge that she channeled as an Anmatyerr matriarch of Alhalker,” said Perkins.

“Her familial connection to her homelands and its associated stories are revealed in her artworks and are unprecedented in Australian art.”

Kngwarray’s identity and work as an artist was integrally related to her position in the community of Anmatyerr women at Utopia. In preparing for the exhibition, co-curators Cole and Perkins, along with linguist Dr Jennifer Green, undertook extensive community consultation.

“We’ve been working in collaboration with the family and community of Utopia of the Urapuntja homelands in the Sandover Region to offer nuanced analyses that acknowledge both the cultural specificity of Kngwarray’s inspiration and the majestic scope of Country and its ancestral inheritances,” Cole said.

“This exhibition is a reminder that the stories and places Kngwarray painted are enduring, the culture that informed them is very much alive.”

Emily Kam Kngwarray opens to the public on Saturday, December 2, 2023 and runs until Sunday, April 28, 2024. The exhibition is accompanied by an illustrated catalogue offering new insights into Emily Kam Kngwarray’s life and work. The 256-page publication features original research and reflections from the artist’s community, curators and academics.

Emily Kam Kngwarray has been made possible through the continued generosity of individual and corporate supporters, including Principal Patrons: Michael Gannon and Helen Gannon; Strategic Partner: Seven West Media; Indigenous Art Partner: Wesfarmers Arts; Major Partners: Qantas, Maddocks and ISPT; Major Patrons: Sally White OAM and Geoffrey White OAM; Supporting Partner: Capital Hotel Group; Supporting Patrons: Dr Michael Martin and Elizabeth Popovski, Roslyn Packer AC; Exhibition Patrons: Ilana Atlas AO and Tony D’Aloisio AM, Penelope Seidler AM, The Hon Ashley Dawson-Damer AM; Cultural Partners: Utopia Arts Centre, Desart (the peak body for Central Australian art centres); Exhibition Supporters: Fiona Martin-Weber and Tom Hayward, The Tall Foundation. A generous philanthropic gift from anonymous benefactors has enabled extensive consultation with the Utopia community and Kngwarray’s extended family.  

Curators
Kelli Cole, Warumunga and Luritja peoples, Curator, Special Projects, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art, and Hetti Perkins, Arrernte and Kalkadoon peoples, Co-curator, Emily Kam Kngwarray.

Read more
Co-curators Kelli Cole and Hetti Perkins reflects on Emily Kam Kngwarray’s life and share insights on the National Gallery of Australia’s recent acquisition of a major painting, here.

Editor’s note
Spelling of Emily Kam Kngwarray: In 2010, the Central & Eastern Anmatyerr to English dictionary was published following extensive consultation and research with the community. The National Gallery of Australia has adopted this orthography for its collection and programs.

Key dates
Media preview: November 30, at 11am
Exhibition season: December 2, 2023 to April 28, 2024

Tickets
To book, visit this link.

Images
Available here.

Media enquiries
media [​at​] nga.gov.au