ANOORALYA, 1992
Emily Kame Kngwarreye
synthetic polymer paint on canvas
121.5 x 151.0 cm
inscribed with artist's name and Delmore Gallery catalogue number verso: DELMORE 92E019
Emily Kngwarreye incorrectly inscribed with title and dated on label attached verso: Bush Tomato/ October 1990
accompanied by a certificate of authenticity from Delmore Gallery, Northern Territory
Commissioned by Delmore Gallery, Northern Territory
William Mora Galleries, Melbourne (gallery stamp verso)
Applied Chemicals Collection, Melbourne
Of My Country: Emily Kame Kngwarreye, The Applied Chemicals Collection, Bendigo Art Gallery, 1 - 30 May 1999, and touring various venues throughout Victoria and New South Wales, June 1999 - April 2000 (illus. exhibition catalogue)
The mythology of the Anooralya Yam at Alagura on Utopia Station and the traditional designs from which Emily has derived much of her work have no symmetry. This fact alone has allowed her work to have an individuality on which her style has evolved.
The growth pattern of the yam is random and this painting obviates this factor. The colours are true to the changing tones of the kame daisy flower of the Anooralya Yam. The movement of colour indicates the varying stages of growth and decline of the yam in its spread across the ground. The abundance implicit in this work only results after good rains which are a wonderful celebratory time in arid Australia.
'Awelye' - or ceremonial expression - releases the spiritual power that maintains Nature's fertility and hardiness. The belief that good seasons always return, that the yam 'always comes back', is fundamental to understanding the desert environment and therefore, survival.
JANET HOLT
Delmore Downs, Northern Territory