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