Emily Kame Kngwarrey (Kngwarreye) (c. 1910–1996), Anmatyerre artist, was born at Alhalkere, Utopia Station in the Northern Territory. After her ancestral land was appropriated for cattle grazing, she worked as a stockhand. As she grew older she became a leader in women's business, experienced in ceremonial body painting. From 1977 she collaborated in the production of batik, an important industry for the Anmatyerre after they regained land title. She first painted on canvas in 1988. In the course of her brief career she produced thousands of canvases depicting the flowers, roots, dust and summer rains of her country, the translucent colours built up with layered touches of paint to create an illusion of depth and movement. Kngwarreye is recognised as one of the very greatest abstract artists of the twentieth century.
Photographer Greg Weight met Kngwarreye at Utopia in February 1994 and took several images. This one is his favourite. As he recalled in Australian Artists: Portraits by Greg Weight: 'After the sun slipped beyond the horizon and with only half a roll of film left in the camera, the moment I had been hoping for happened. Something in the distance demanded Emily's concentration. She stopped talking and turned her head in perfect profile.'
Gift of Patrick Corrigan AM 2004. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.
© Gregory Weight/Copyright Agency, 2024
Patrick Corrigan AM (130 portraits)
On one level The Companion talks about the most famous and frontline Australians, but on another it tells us about ourselves.
Greg Weight on working with Jiawei Shen, and starting out as a photographer.
Portraits of philanthropists in the collection honour their contributions to Australia and acknowledge their support of the National Portrait Gallery.
