Emily Kam Kngwarray born 1910, departed, 1996
No other Australian Indigenous artist has captivated the global imagination like Anmatyerr artist Emily Kam Kngwarray. A revered Indigenous Australian elder who rarely left her ancestral Country, Emily Kam Kngwarray was an innovative painter whose diverse and prolific output prompted art historians, curators, and critics to question the relationship between International Modernism and Central Desert painting.
Emily’s work was first presented internationally at the Australian Pavilion of the 47th Biennale di Venezia in 1997 and since then has gained immense critical stature within the broader context of contemporary painting. Twenty years later, her work returned to the Biennale di Venezia as a celebrated feature of All the World’s Futures, 2015 curated by the late Okwui Enwezor.
In 2023 the National Gallery of Australia launched her third major retrospective, which will travel to Tate Modern, London in July 2025.
No other Australian Indigenous artist has captivated the global imagination like Anmatyerr artist Emily Kam Kngwarray. A revered Indigenous Australian elder who rarely left her ancestral Country, Emily Kam Kngwarray was an innovative painter whose diverse and prolific output prompted art historians, curators, and critics to question the relationship between International Modernism and Central Desert painting.
Emily’s work was first presented internationally at the Australian Pavilion of the 47th Biennale di Venezia in 1997 and since then has gained immense critical stature within the broader context of contemporary painting. Twenty years later, her work returned to the Biennale di Venezia as a celebrated feature of All the World’s Futures, 2015 curated by the late Okwui Enwezor.
In 2023 the National Gallery of Australia launched her third major retrospective, which will travel to Tate Modern, London in July 2025.
See work