Emily Kam Kngwarray

Emily Kam Kngwarray celebrates the timeless art of a pre-eminent Australian artist, one of the world’s most significant contemporary painters to emerge in the 20th century. A senior Anmatyerr woman, Kngwarray devoted her final years to painting, creating works that encapsulate the experience and authority she gained throughout an extraordinary life.

The exhibition will be an extensive survey of Emily Kam Kngwarray’s work, bringing together the most important works of her oeuvre, from early vibrant batiks to her later monumental paintings on canvas. An audiovisual project created in collaboration with the artist’s community will feature as part of the exhibition, weaving through the songs of the awely that informed Kngwarray’s works in soundscapes and audio tours.

Emily Kam Kngwarray includes paintings, textiles (batiks) and works on paper drawn from international and national collections. Many never before seen works from private collections are included in this exhibition, along with new acquisitions of the artist’s seminal works in the national collection.

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The exhibition continues to build on the National Gallery’s Know My Name initiative which celebrates the work of all women artists with an aim to enhance understanding of their contribution to Australia’s cultural life.

Curators: Kelli Cole, Warumunga and Luritja peoples, Curator, Special Projects, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art
Hetti Perkins, Arrernte and Kalkadoon peoples, Senior Curator-at-Large, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art