Alhalker Country

Dylan River is an award- winning Kaytetye filmmaker and photographer from Mparntwe/Alice Springs and comes from a family of storytellers and filmmakers. The personal histories of his family are embedded in Central Australia, with a close connection to Emily Kam Kngwarray’s Country. Freda Glynn, River’s grandmother, was one of the founders of the Central Australian Aboriginal Media Association (CAAMA), which was established in 1982 to maintain and sustain the culture and languages of Central Australia. In 1987 CAAMA commenced a series of projects that increasingly brought the artists of the Sandover region, including Kngwarray, into prominence.

From 1977 until her death in 1996, Kngwarray created thousands of works of art — from batiks to monumental paintings — inspired by the deep knowledge that she channelled as the Anmatyerr matriarch of Alhalker. River’s photographs of Alhalker Country give a sense of the vast beauty of Kngwarray’s Country.

Dylan River was commissioned by the National Gallery to photograph the artist’s Country for the Emily Kam Kngwarray exhibition publication.

This photo essay was first published in The Annual 2023.

Images also appear in publication Emily Kam Kngwarray, published by the National Gallery to coincide with major exhibition Emily Kam Kngwarray.

Emily Kam Kngwarray is on display from 2 December 2023 to 28 April 2024.