Kngwarray's lineal works on paper and on canvas evoke the rhythms of ceremonial song and dance that are carefully choreographed representations of Altyerr or Dreaming. In earlier paintings that feature ceremonial body paint designs, particular colours relate to specific subjects. In these later line paintings Kngwarray exercised a significant degree of creative license. The National Gallery’s 6-panel work Untitled (awely), 1994 and the monochromatic work of the same name and year from the Chartwell Collection represent the range of her colour palette.
After Emily's passing, these works were shown in fluent at the Venice Biennale in 1997, along with other works by Kngwarray- as well as those of Judy Watson and Yvonne Koolmatrie. American artist, Richard Tuttle, whose work Venice Biennale in 1997, was struck by the resonance of Kngwarray’s work with those of artist Agnes Martin. Martin was born in Canada around the same time as Kngwarray, and lived in the desert of New Mexico. Martin was known for work that charted new terrain that lay outside of both the broad gestural vocabulary of Abstract Expressionism and the repetition of Minimalism. Kngwarray’s work's indefinitely varied markings and colourisation, like Martin’s, are indeed tethered to spirituality.
