Skin: Pwerle Ngala
Language Group: Anmattyerr
Region: Camel Camp, Utopia, Northern Territory
Dreaming: Bush Plum (Arnwekety), Arlparra Country
Born in 1947, Angelina Pwerle Ngala has come into international prominence with her interpretation of her Dreaming – the Bush Plum – Arnwekety on her grandfather’s country, Arlparra.
The subtle changes in the depth and intensity of her dot-work produce a multi-dimensional textured surface. Angeline also does figurative work in strong, striking colours.
Angeline is sister to painters Kathleen Ngala (deceased) and Polly Ngala (deceased)all of whom paint the Dreaming – Bush Plum. Angeline Pwerle Ngala was part of the pivotal batik project in 1988 and her work is featured in the Robert Holmes á Court Collection which has toured extensively within Australia and overseas. She began to use the medium of acrylic paint on canvas in the summer of 1988-9 as part of the CAAMA project with the Utopia women’s paintings: ‘The First works on Canvas, A Summer Project’. She has continued to paint with acrylics on canvas.
Her work has been collected by many significant public and private galleries and institutions. She was a finalist in the 23rd Telstra National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Awards, 2006.
‘In 1986 she was introduced to batik; however, in recent years she has primarily focused on sculpture and painting. The representation of the Bush plum (Arnwekety), Arrker (night owl), bush foods, and flowers remain the central concerns of her work. Along with the other women artists of Utopia, Pwerle was first given canvas and acrylic paint in the late 1980s. Her canvases characteristically feature an intense concentration of dots which produce the effect of movement or shadows, across the surface. Her work is distinct from that of other artists in the community in the clarity of her colour schemes. Placed on dark backgrounds, the dots take on a pure, ephemeral quality.
There is a strong heritage of amongst the men and women of Utopia, although until the 1980s women made only non-traditional sculptural work. It was in this context that Pwerle’s bold, whimsical animals and figures were first produced. The artist gives her creatures and little people bright-eyed, startled faces and adorns their bodies in green, grey, and blue, as well as traditional ochres.’ WN
Part extract Kleinert & Neale, The Oxford Companion to Aboriginal Art and Culture, 2000, OUP, Melbourne.
The National Gallery of Australia, Canberra
National Gallery of Victoria
Aboriginal Art Museum, The Netherlands.
The Holmes a Court Collection, Perth
The National Museum of Art, Osaka, Japan
Artbank, Sydney
Commonwealth Law Courts, Melbourne.
LaTrobe University Collection, Melbourne
Gallery of Modern Arts, Brisbane
2021 - Prairie Hotel, Parachilna, South Australia
2020 - Richmond Hill Gallery, London, UK
2020 - Prairie Hotel, Parachilna, South Australia
2019 - Prairie Hotel, Parachilna, South Australia
2018 - Indigenous Group Show, Without Pier Art Gallery, Melbourne
2018 - Prairie Hotel, Parachilna, South Australia
2017 - Prairie Hotel, Parachilna, South Australia
2016 – Richmond Hill Gallery, London, UK
2015 – Senior Women from Camel Camp, Wimbledon, London, UK
2014 – Indigenous Group Show, Without Pier Art Gallery, Melbourne
2013 - Prairie Hotel, Parachilna, South Australia
2012 - Belongings, Australasian Arts Projects, Singapore
2012 - Aboriginal Artists in London, London, UK
2011 – Desert Icons, Australasian Arts Projects, Singapore
2011 – Desert Visions, Prairie Hotel, Parachilna, South Australia
2011 – Aboriginal Art from Utopia, Without Pier Art Gallery, Melbourne
2010 – Aboriginal Artists in London June 11 - 13, London, UK
2010 - The Utopia Story, Australasian Arts Projects, Singapore
2009 - Telstra National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Award, Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory, Darwin
2009 - Finalist Wynne Prize, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney
2008 - Emily Kngwarreye and Her Legacy, Tokyo, Japan 2008 - Moscow World Fine Art Fair, Moscow, Russia
2008 - Power of Place, Paintings and Sculpture from the Eastern Desert, Tandanya Aboriginal Cultural Institute, Adelaide
2007 - Eastern Desert Dreaming - Artists from Utopia, GalleryG, Brisbane 2007 - Patterns of Power, Art from the Eastern Desert, Simmer on the Bay, Sydney
2006 - Lorraine Diggins, London 2006 - Senior Women of Utopia, GalleryG, Brisbane
2004 - EXPLAINED, A closer look at Aboriginal Art, Aboriginal Art Museum, Utrecht, The Netherlands.
2003, 2005 - Niagara Galleries, Melbourne
2002 - Indecorous Abstraction: Contemporary Women Painters, Light Square Gallery, Adelaide
2000 - Not the Done Thing!, Niagara Galleries, Melbourne
1999 - Blue Chip 2 The Collector's Exhibtition, Niagara Galleries, Melbourne
1998 - Sixth Australian Contemporary Art Fair, Melbourne
1997 - 14th National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Award, Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory, Darwin
1996 - Painted People: Sculpture from Utopia, Utopia Art Sydney, Sydney
1994 - Central Australian Aboriginal Art and Craft Exhibition, Araluen Centre, Alice Springs.
1994 - The Oval Board Collection, Hawaii
1993 - Utopia Women, MCA
1989 - Utopia Women's Paintings, the First Works on Canvas, A Summer Project, 1988-89, S. H. Ervin Gallery, Sydney
