Emily Kam Kngwarray, a renowned Aboriginal artist from Australia's Northern Territory, has made history by becoming the first Australian to receive a solo exhibition at London's prestigious Tate Modern gallery. The exhibition, which opened in August and runs through January 11, showcases the work of the late artist whom the gallery describes as "one of the world's leading artists" at the entrance to the showcase.
The groundbreaking exhibition occupies four of the largest rooms in the former power plant that houses the Tate Modern, one of the world's most prestigious art galleries alongside the Louvre in Paris and New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art. Born around 1910 in Alhalker country in the Central Desert Sandover region of the Northern Territory, Kngwarray's work now hangs on the same walls where pieces by Picasso, Rothko, and other legendary European artists are displayed.
The retrospective exhibition represents a collaboration with the National Gallery of Australia and marks the first large-scale presentation of Kngwarray's work ever held in a European country. Kelli Cole, a Warumunga and Luritja woman who curated the exhibition, spent nearly four years working with the community to bring this showcase to fruition. "Having her at the Tate Modern in London is an absolute honor," Cole said. "She is hanging on the walls where Picasso, Rothko and other European artists hang – artists that were extraordinary, who have stood the test of time. And there we have Emily's paintings hanging on these walls."
The exhibition traces Kngwarray's artistic journey from her early batiks in the 1970s through her brightly colored depictions of the flora and fauna of her country in the late 1980s and 1990s. For the first 60 years of her life, Kngwarray worked on cattle stations looking after white settlers' children. Her artistic career began relatively late in life when she attended a short batik course in the Utopia region of the Northern Territory in 1977, subsequently setting up the local arts collective known as The Utopia Women's Batik Group.
A pivotal moment came in 1988 when Kngwarray was introduced to acrylic painting. She later explained that this transition was born out of necessity, stating in an interview with an art historian before her death in 1996, "My eyesight deteriorated as I got older, and because of that I gave up batik on silk – it was better for me to just paint." Toward the end of her life, she also practiced body painting, or awelye, a traditional practice that Aboriginal people have engaged in for millennia.
Kngwarray's acrylic paintings frequently depict native flora and fauna, particularly anwelarr, or pencil yam – a native vine. Her granddaughters explain that the concept of country connects with ancient myths of creation, representing "the lands, skies and waters that have been part of [their] lives over countless generations." While outsiders might perceive Kngwarray's paintings as abstract, curator Kelli Cole emphasizes this interpretation misses the mark. "When you talk about abstract, people don't understand Aboriginal art, so they have to put it in the Western canon," Cole explained. "Her paintings aren't abstractions, they are paintings of country."
The prolific artist's commercial career spanned only the final eight years of her life, yet she produced an estimated 3,000 paintings during this period – roughly 1,000 more works than Vincent Van Gogh created in his final decade. Today, Kngwarray's paintings command astronomical prices at auction. In 2007, her painting "Earth's Creation 1" sold for the highest price ever paid at that time for an artwork by an Australian Aboriginal artist, fetching more than $1,056,000. A decade later, the same piece sold again for an even higher price of $2.1 million.
The artist's work has gained international recognition, with celebrities like Oprah Winfrey promoting her artworks. However, to her family, she was more than a superstar – she was a grandmother who shared her stories and techniques with the next generation. Sisters Judy Kngwarreye Purvis, Jedda Maureen Kngwarreye, and Maureen Kngwarreye Purvis, all granddaughters of the artist, recall working with their renowned grandmother when she painted "Emu Woman" – the first artwork visitors see when entering the Tate Modern exhibition.
There is palpable pride as the sisters stand before one of their grandmother's paintings in the archives of the Arunta Art Gallery in Alice Springs. "It is our land," Judy Kngwarreye Purvis whispers reverently, her hand gently hovering over a large multicolored canvas. Jedda Maureen Kngwarreye adds, "She is famous. We are really happy." All three granddaughters have followed in their grandmother's footsteps by becoming artists themselves, reflecting on how she taught them to paint. "We were watching as she was doing her painting. She was telling her stories," Maureen Kngwarreye Purvis recalled. "She said to us, 'Next time, you mob are gonna do the same as me.'"
The historic exhibition at the Tate Modern represents not only a celebration of Kngwarray's extraordinary artistic legacy but also a significant moment for Australian Aboriginal art on the international stage. By becoming the first Australian artist to receive a solo exhibition at this world-renowned institution, Kngwarray's work continues to bridge cultural divides and educate global audiences about the rich traditions and contemporary expressions of Aboriginal artistry.
