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Lot description
EMILY KAME KNGWARREYE (EMILY KAM KNGWARRAY) c.1910 - 1996 Untitled (Awelye), 1994 acrylic on canvas 38 x 31.5 cm; 40.5 x 33 cm (framed) bears inscription verso: EK 4.11.94 PROVENANCE Mulga Bore Artists (Rodney Gooch), Northern Territory, Cat No. EK 4.11.94 Utopia Art Sydney, New South Wales The Collection of Dame Marie Bashir AD CVO and Sir Nicholas Shehadie AC OBE, Sydney, New South Wales Anmatyerr woman Emily Kame Kngwarreye (Emily Kam Kngwarray) was born in Alhalker on the edge of Utopia cattle station. Her career as a painter was as prolific as it was passionate; after only a few short years she had established herself as an internationally acclaimed artist. Over the course of her brief but prolific eight-year painting career, Kngwarreye moved through a series of distinct artistic periods. This 1994 painting is part of her highly prized Body Paint series. This strong linear work is painted with bold stripes representing the Women's Ceremonial body paint design used in Awelye - women's ceremonies. After smearing their bodies with animal fat, the women apply these bold striped designs onto their arms, breasts and thighs whilst singing as each woman has a turn to be ‘painted up'. Posthumously, Kngwarreye's phenomenal body of work was chronologically curated in Mar- go 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. In 2025, the Tate Modern in London held a major solo retrospective, marking the most significant international exhibition dedicated to an ‘Australian' artist. © Emily Kam Kngwarray / Copyright Agency, 2026