Araluen Arts Centre: 
Emily: I Am Kam
Celebrating the legacy of Australia’s most significant female artist - Emily Kam Kngwarray.
We travel with her descendants as they revive awely ceremonies and collaborate on a major retrospective exhibition, reaffirming her connection to Country.
Emily: I Am Kam celebrates the legacy of Australia’s most significant female artist - Emily Kam Kngwarray and explores the power of her work to protect her country, Alhalker. We follow her descendants as they revive awely ceremonies and collaborate on a major retrospective exhibition, helping us gain real understanding of who she was and why she painted, while reaffirming her enduring connection to Country and community. Archival recordings give Kngwarray the opportunity to speak for herself revealing her legacy is so much more than the 3,000 or so paintings she left behind.
“All the whitefellers would say, ‘That one over there is for me, that beautiful one there is for me. Give it to me, that one’s for me - give me that one!’......
Looking at the paintings they think, ‘That old lady keeps on painting her Country, that one place, Alhalker—the place where she lived for a long time.’
They think that the paintings are really wonderful - the Country itself.”
- Emily Kam Kngwarray
“If you close your eyes and imagine the paintings in your mind’s eye, you will see them transform. They are real – what Kngwarray painted is alive and true”
- Jedda Kngwarray Purvis, Jennifer Kngwarray Purvis and Josie Petyarr Kunoth, Utopia Art Centre, June 2023.
Gallery
Images
1. Emily Kam Kngwarray and Jennifer Green recording songs and oral histories for CAAMA radio, Atnarar (Soakage Bore) 1983
2. Emily Kam Kngwarray near Mparntwe:Alice Springs after the first exhibition of Utopia batiks, 1980
3. Emily Kam Kngwarray preparing inap (echidnas) c 1978
4. Women dance towards seated singers
5. Women of Utopia dancing the emu awely
6. Emily Kam Kngwarray 1994
7. Emily Kam Kngwarray painting Delmore Downs Station c 1992
8. Anwerlarr (pencil yam root and leaf), Alhalker Country
9. Emily Kam Kngwarray 1994
10. Bush picnic, Utopia 1977, Pictured Jenifer Green, Pansy Sandover, Lily Kngwarrey Sandover, Andrew Sandover, Emily Kam Kngwarray, Betty Mpetyan, Julie Sandover and Rosemary Petyarr
11. Melissa Kngwarray Long viewing Kngwarray batiks at the NGA exhibition
12. Louisa Kngwarray Long painting Josie Petyarr Kunoth with awely designs.
13. Bathing at Urlerrperl waterhole
14. Barbara Kngwarray Long mixing ochres with fat
15. Judy Kngwarray Greenie and Jedda Kngwarray Purvis looking out toward the ranges in Alhalker Country
16. Painting the awely designs
17. The women dance the awely
18. Jennifer Kngwarray Purvis and Josie Petyarr Kunoth at Alharlernternerrek
19. Dancing the awely
20. Kngwarray Brushwork black and white 1994
20A. Emily Kam Kngwarray 1996
20B. Emily Kam Kngwarray 1996
20C. Emily Kam Kngwarray 1996
22. Josie Petyarr Kunoth arrives with Judy Kngwarray Greenie, Rosemary Petyarr other women of her community to preview the Kngwarray exhibition
23. The opening of the Emily Kam Kngwarray exhibition NGA December 2023, The artwork behind is A Summer Project 1988/89 - 80 works, Left to right Jean Kngwarray Long, Margaret Kngwarray Long, Kelli Cole, Louisa Kngwarray Long, Jedda Kngwarray Purvis, Back row Sophia Lunn, Dr Jennifer Green, Front Josie Petyarr Kunoth, Melissa Kngwarray Long
27. Alhalker Country
Written and Directed by DANIELLE MACLEAN
Produced by ANNA GRIEVE & DANIELLE MACLEAN
Emily: I Am Kam is a Tamarind Tree Pictures production for NITV in association with Screen Australia, National Gallery of Australia and Screen Territory.
Dates
Times
7pm
Duration
59 minutes
Interval
None
Prices
FREE (ticket booking still required)
Genre
Location
Extra information
Online ticketing is available up until one hour prior to the performance.
For ticket purchases after this time, please visit the Araluen Box Office or call us on (08) 8951 1122.
Accessibility
Rating
Warning
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander viewers are advised that the following program contains images and voices of people who have died.
Booking Fee
For this event, a one-off service fee of $2.50 per transaction applies on all purchases online. All ticket prices include GST.
