Feature Artwork: Angelina Ngale

This new piece, measuring 120cm x 45cm, is a fine example of Angelina Ngale's spirit figure artworks.

Its exquisite abstract aesthetic is dominated by Matisse's Australian Salmon Gum, Light Violet and Southern Ocean Blue, evoking unity, grounding and a synthesis of contemporary abstraction and ethereal wisdom. 

Angelina Ngale is an Anmatyerre woman from the Utopia region who has become well known for her exquisitely coloured illustrations related to the Atham-areny Story. 

These works can be appreciated at a superficial level for their abstraction and painterliness. At a deeper level they can be seen as a contemporary dialogue of a cultural, religious, social and geographic component of her life.

Angelina's earlier works are composed of delicately layered colourful dots, painstakingly rendered, that maintain a layer of meaning related to the Bush Plum Dreaming; inferring memories of habitual practices such as collecting this important food source, or of ceremonial related business.

View all Angelina Ngale paintings »

Atham-areny Story

The term Atham-areny comes from the Anmatyerre words atham (meaning no fire) and areny (meaning belonging to).

Atham-areny are spirits often described as invisible or colourless creatures which can be felt and heard but never seen. Fires are created to ward them off and children especially are issued to stay close by the fire's glow.

Atham-areny belong to the hilly area surrounding Willowra which is a sacred place. It has soakages there, and was once an important site for training Ngangkers (bush or witch doctors).