POWERHOUSE COLLECTION

Notes

Designed and made by Emily Kame Kngwarreye, from the Anmatyerre group, in the Alhalkere country at Utopia in Central Australia. Emily was one of a number of women who were introduced to fabric dyeing techniques in the late 1970s. She was involved in a number of exhibitions during the 1980s including Utopia: A Picture Story, for the Robert Holmes a'Court collection. Emily stopped making batik in about 1988/89 when she was introduced to the use of acrylic paint and canvas. She rapidly became identified as the pre-eminent artist from the Utopia group, now has paintings in every major national art collection, and she was awarded a Visual Arts/Craft Board major fellowship in the early 1990s. Her early batiks, like other artists, used motifs drawn from plant, animal and natural forms that were important to them, as well as motifs used in body painting. Emily's work depicted designs from body paint images, plant motifs or Dreaming maps showing important sites. They developed into now characteristic abstract patterns of over layered lines and/or dots that still refer to her important stories. (refer: Michael Boulter, p36, 63). This batik is among the last that she made before concentrating on painting, and anticipates the bold linear brush strokes (sometimes overlaid with dots) that she uses in her current paintings. The batik design is important in that it reflects the change in her work at that time, and the textile itself is important because of the significance of the artist. Made by Emily Kame Kngwarreye at Utopia in Central Australia. In 1979, after 50 years, the Utopia pastoral lease had been returned to the traditional owners, the Anmatyerre and Alyawarre Aboriginal people. They developed camps in various parts of the 'homeland'. From the late 1970s batik on textiles and later painting on canvas, and wood carving, became important aspects of the economy. Batik is produced outside by artists sitting on the ground. The motifs are largely drawn from traditional body and ground painting, and refer largely to the relationship with the land. The artists are increasingly conscious that they are making works for an outside market, and adapt the motifs for this purpose. The batik was made at the same time as the batiks were made for the exhibition Utopia: a Picture Story (for the Holmes a'Court collection).