Biography

Annie Petyarre is the daughter of Molly Pwerle, sister of the famous Minnie Pwerle. She spent a lot of time with Emily Kame KNGWARREYE. For the record, Emily was adopted by Jacob, who was the father of Lilly Sandover Kngwarreye, the highest spiritual dignitary of the Allyawarre clan, who taught Annie and her sisters sacred body painting.

Annie spent several years working alongside some of the greatest Aboriginal women artists of their time: Emily Kame KNGWARREYE, Lilly Sandover KNGWARREYE, Gloria PETYARRE and Kathleen Petyarre.

These exceptional artists helped build the Utopia school of painters, in which women have always played a leading role. Their distinctive style is based on the body-painting motifs they use to celebrate their fertility rituals, with drawings inspired by the rich flora of their native region to celebrate the myths - or "dreams" - of which they are the guardians.

In her work, Annie evokes the site of Enteebra, where the sacred grotto of Arowilya is most likely to be found, where the women of the Kngwarreye and Petyarre family groups gather every summer to celebrate the legend, or Awelye, of the two sisters. These mythical sisters were pursued by Alerte, a man who wanted to seduce them even though he belonged to the same clan, the Kngwarreye. In so doing, he was breaking a law designed to prevent inbreeding among the peoples of the Central Australian Desert. The two women escaped him, taking refuge in the Arowilya cave where Pareeja, the Night Snake Woman, protected them.

The artist's canvases are subtly composed, using a rich vocabulary of iconography. Indeed, myriads of dotted lines adjoin concentric circles, themselves surrounded by very fine lines of white paint subtly applied to the canvas with a needle protruding from a paint bottle. Although trained by the greatest Aboriginal artists, Annie Petyarre has created a totally unique, organic style. Her canvases embody the energy of blossoming flowers, a symbol of fertility par excellence.

Collections: -The National Gallery of Australia, Canberra, Australia -The Holmes a Court Collection, Perth, Australia -The Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia