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 twentieth 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 is an extensive survey of Emily Kam Kngwarray’s work, bringing together the most important works of her oeuvre, from early vibrant batik textiles to later monumental paintings on canvas. The exhibition features an audiovisual collaboration with the artist’s community, with the songs of the awely that informed Kngwarray's works woven through a series of immersive soundscapes and audio tours.

Emily Kam Kngwarray includes paintings, textiles and works on paper drawn from international and national collections. Many never before seen works from private collections are included in the 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, Warumungu 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