In the middle of the year she primarily devoted to painting, Kngwarray decisively broadened the colour spectrum and techniques she used to create her works of art. The most ambitious of the works from this era is the 22-panel opus entitled The Alhalker Suite, 1992. It was acquired by the National Gallery of Australia after it was entered in the prestigious Clemenger Contemporary Art Award in 1993.
The scale and the title of this monumental work clearly evokes a kaleidoscopic view of Alhalker country. However, from the intimate perspective of its creator, it is perhaps more accurately considered as a multi-faceted portrait of a land – alive and conscious. The family of the artist immediately recognised the suite of paintings as Alhalker, with its shifting planes and contours representing the different environments of Kngwarray’s country: rockfaces and rockholes, spinifex, sand planes and waterways. Perhaps the painting offers an aerial perspective of winding river courses and changing topography – all condensed within a work that conveys an intense gravitational energy. In the eyes of Kngwarray’s countrywomen, the high-keyed colour palette captures seasonal change and the shifting light over a timeless land.
