Emily
Kame Kngwarreye
Anmatyerre (ca.1916–1996)
Wild Tomato, 1991
synthetic polymer paint on canvas, framed
122 x 212cm
PROVENANCE
Delmore Downs Gallery, Utopia, NT, accompanied by certificate of authenticity
Private Collection, Germany
Documentation reads: This exciting work shows Emily Kngwarreye combining
colours with her usual confidence and pizazz. Upon the red background,
she has "put down" her story in pink figurative gestures that
we can only see hints of here and there. The underlying lines represent
the body paint design of the wild tomato. It is applied to those women
who have custodial responsibility for this plant. The ceremony they celebrate,
its hardiness and fertility, believing that they help nurture this plant
and the lives of the women who "look after it"
Here, Emily displays her country in bold and brazen storms of colour,
the colours representing the raw, ripe and dry fruit - the bud, the grass
stalk, and the scattered seed. These are all part of the desert life cycle.
The women's view of the plant work translates directly to their perception
of themselves and to the stage in life that they have all reached. In
the same way, good summer rains bring on a new generation of bush tucker,
the women too, have that same power to bring on a new generation and guarantee
the continuing life cycle.