ABSTRACT
Emily Kam Ngwarray has been acclaimed by some as one of the major abstract painters of the 20th century. She started painting in acrylic on canvas in 1988, and in 1990 had her first solo exhibitions in the state capitals of Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane. According to Ngwarray, the themes of country and Dreamings remained a constant in her work, persisting throughout the transformations of her style. This symbolism is essentially derived from the Altyerr — the creative principle which saturates the world with meaning. Some commentators have interpreted the monumental black lines on white, or white on black, in Ngwarray's yam paintings of 1995 as statements of reconciliation between black and white Australia, and others have read into her work a world-view of cosmic and transcendent proportions. In 1994 the profuse dotting which had characterised Ngwarray’s earlier work was replaced by more austere works of bold, often monochromatic, linear gesture.
