The Ancient PRESENT II
Utopia in the Spotlight
An essay by Dr. Marie Geissler
This exhibition invites us to think about Aboriginal art from Utopia, a cluster of small desert communities roughly 250 kilometres northeast of Alice Springs, and how this art, which first entered the fine art galleries of the world some forty years ago, is now being celebrated in London’s prestigious Tate Gallery. This show of Utopia’s most famous Matriarch, Emily Kame Kngwarreye, has been curated by Kelli Cole and based on a show curated by Cole and Hetti Perkins for the National Gallery of Australia. (1) A spectacular solo exhibition, it opened at the Tate in July this year.
FireWorks Gallery’s The Ancient Present II exhibition, assembled by Michael Eather, pays tribute to the extraordinary significance of Emily, and the mapping of her artworld obscurity to that of global fame which I will briefly explain, as well as the art of the other major artist of the exhibition, Kathleen Kngale (c.1930–2021), and that of Polly Ngale (c.1936–2022) and Angelina Kngale (b.1947). FireWorks first began exhibiting artists from Utopia through Utopia Art Sydney in 1991. (2)
Several works of Emily Kngwarreye’s in this exhibition are representative of the “Ancient” in the title. In representing the “Present”, to illustrate how Emily’s influence was brilliantly transformed by her descendants, we include an inspiring selection of work by her niece, Kathleen Kngale, covering several stylistic genres and distinctive colour palettes. These were collected by Annie Gamble Myer over many years and include a few paintings from Emily’s other nieces, Polly and Angelina Kngale. The hang of Kathleen Kngale’s paintings provides the pre-eminent context for this exhibition.
Now, a short introduction to Emily’s life... (continue reading Utopia in the Spotlight here)
Artworks
