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The Language of the Land: Emily Kame Kngwarreye Makes Her Tate Modern Solo Debut

By Yu-Ching (Charlene) Chang 

2025.10.27

Step into the exhibition and let go of expectations. Abstract forms hang from the ceiling, descending like whispers. Are they an extension of abstract painting, a subtle reinvention of pointillism, or faint echoes of Western art? In this space, perception itself becomes part of the artwork.

Multiple suspended works in the exhibition space, photographed by the author (26 September 2025).
 

These works are by Emily Kame Kngwarreye, an Indigenous Australian artist whose first major solo exhibition in London marks a long-overdue recognition. Remarkably prolific, Kngwarreye turned to painting only in her late seventies, yet within just eight years she produced more than three thousand works—nearly one per day. (Tate Modern, 2025)


The exhibition traces the key phases of her creative journey: from her early batik textiles to the monumental acrylic canvases that defined her later years. Among the highlights is The Alhalker Suite (1993), presented alongside film materials that deepen the viewer’s understanding of her artistic practice and the cultural landscape that shaped it.

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For decades, the art world has described Kngwarreye’s work through the familiar lexicon of “Modernism” or “Abstract Expressionism,” seeking to situate her within the frameworks of Western art history. (Fuss et al., 2024) Yet, when we stand before her paintings, we find no easy correspondences—no clear echoes of canonical forms or movements. This sense of estrangement may feel unsettling at first, yet it is also profoundly exhilarating. Gradually, we come to realize that it is the land itself—and the rhythms of nature—that form the true core and spirit of her art.

In Their Eyes: Alhalker


What makes Kngwarreye’s work so profoundly moving is the truth it tells—the story of the land itself. Through gesture, brushwork, and colour, her paintings articulate an intimate bond with her homeland, allowing viewers to encounter the essence of her art in its most direct and unmediated form. As members of her community have said, “These are true stories; she was telling the truth.” (Fuss et al., 2024)


Her paintings often draw from the native flora, fauna, and natural formations of her country, capturing the subtle richness of the local ecology. Many bear the title Alhalker, inspired by her deep knowledge as an Anmatyerr elder of the Alhalker region. Located in the Sandover area of the Northern Territory, Alhalker is part of the vast, arid expanse of central Australia—a terrain of low ridges, exposed rock, sandy plains, and watercourses that fill only after the rains. The shapes, colours, and rhythms of this land imbue her canvases with the pulse of the country.

Emily Kame Kngwarreye, Ntang, 1990. Photograph © Tate 2020 (Oliver Cowlin).

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The tones and landscapes in Kngwarreye’s paintings are not products of pure imagination, but vivid records of a homeland layered with history. In 2023, filmmaker Dylan River was commissioned by the National Gallery of Australia to create a photographic series for the exhibition publication. (Alhalker Country, 2024) His images offer a deeper understanding of the artist’s vision—through aerial views of the terrain, we can trace the correspondence between the land’s contours and the forms within her paintings. The colours, textures, and rhythms align with striking clarity, revealing a tangible dialogue between art and country, between memory and the living landscape.

Dylan River, Kaytetye people, Alhalker Country, February 2023 © Dylan River, 2023

From Dreaming to Canvas: A Woman’s Perspective and Artistic Practice


Beyond her dialogue with the land, Kngwarreye’s artistic sensibility was deeply shaped by awelye—the women’s ceremonies and practices that formed a vital part of her upbringing. This tradition encompasses body painting, ritual performance, songs, and dances. The linear patterns painted across the chests and shoulders of ceremonial dancers would later inspire the compositions and flowing lines that define much of her work.


During awelye ceremonies, Anmatyerr women adorn their bodies with ochre, charcoal, and ash, tracing Dreaming designs across their skin as if mapping the texture of the land onto the body itself. As they paint, they sing the Dreaming songs for hours, culminating in dance and chant—acts that affirm the profound connection between people and country, body and spirit. (Hong, 2021)
Thus, what has often been described as Kngwarreye’s “untrained” brushwork is, in truth, the natural extension of a long cultural and bodily practice. Her gestures are not random or impulsive, but grounded in ritual movement—an embodied rhythm that translates the language of the land into paint.

Emily Kame Kngwarreye, Ntang Dreaming, 1989. National Gallery of Australia. © Estate of Emily Kame Kngwarreye / DACS 2024. Photographed by the author (26 September 2025).

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Epilogue: The Power of Land, Life, and Culture


In 2017, Emily Kame Kngwarreye’s Earth’s Creation I was sold at auction in Sydney for 2.1 million AUD, setting a record for an Australian female artist and affirming her stature on the international stage. (Gareth, 2017) Contemporary exhibitions and scholarship now emphasize that her work must be understood within the cultural framework of Indigenous Country and Dreaming, rather than through the narrow lens of Western “Modernism” or “Abstract Expressionism.”
This exhibition reveals not only a breakthrough in formal language, but also the enduring presence of feminine strength, ancestral spirit, and a profound connection to the land.

Exhibition Title: Emily Kame Kngwarreye 

Venue: Tate Modern, London 

Dates: 10 July 2025 – 11 January 2026

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References

© 2025 JustArt Collective

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