Poly Ngal

Biography

POLY NGAL 1936 -
Language: Anmatyarr
Country: Aharlper
Residence: Camel Camp, Utopia
Grandfather's Language: Anmatyarr
Grandfather's Country: Aharlper
Grandmother's Language: Alywarr
Grandmother's Country: Ngkwelay (Kirrajong Bore)

As senior custodian of her Country, Poly Ngal shares great responsibility as a keeper of cultural knowledge for her country Aharlper, located in the heart of Utopia, 250 kms North East of Alice Springs. She belongs to the oldest living generation within Utopia and is among the most accomplished painters who has worked at Utopia during the past 20 years. Poly began her career in late 1979, through the production of Batiks, made by artists in Utopia prior to the introduction of painting on canvas in the mid to late 1980s.

Poly Ngal's paintings often depict bright yellow seeds, feast for the emus, amongst the Bush Plums that grow in her country. Her paintings are borne from traditional knowledge and Poly's confident approach to her work can be seen in the way she assembles streams of seeds, piling dots upon each other to create rich thick fields of glowing palettes of colour.

Exhibitions

2008
Moscow World Art Fair, Manage, Moscow

2007
Journeys and Dreams, Gecko Gallery, Broome
My Way: A Survey of Utopia Artists, Woolloongabba Art Gallery, Brisbane
Memory As Landscape, Masterpiece @IXL, Hobart

2006
ArtParis 2006 Contemporary Art Fair, Grand Palais- Champs Elysees, Paris

2005
Memory As Landscape, The October Gallery, London in association with Lauraine Diggins Fine Art, Melbourne

2004
21st Telstra National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Award, 2004, Museum & Art Gallery of the Northern Territory

2003-05
Telstra National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Award: Celebrating 20 years, Museum & Art Gallery of the Northern Territory and touring

2003
20th Telstra National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Award, 2003, Museum & Art Gallery of the Northern Territory

2002
Two Sisters: Kathleen & Poly Ngal, Lauraine Diggins Fine Art, Melbourne

2001
Utopia, a special painting place, Bett Gallery, Hobart
Bush Plum Dreaming, Indigenart, Perth
Brilliance, Gallery Gabrielle Pizzi, Melbourne
Painted Countries, Thornquest Gallery, Gold Coast
Amerr Merungrka, Hogarth Gallery, Sydney

1999
Intricacies of Women, Indigenart, Perth
Awelye, Desart Gallery, Sydney

Achievements, Collections & Commissions

ACHIEVEMENTS:
2004
21st Telstra National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Award, Finalist

2003
20th Telstra National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Award, Honourable mention

COLLECTIONS:
Araluen Arts and Entertainment Centre, Alice Springs
Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide
Art Gallery of Western Australia, Perth
Benalla Art Gallery, Benalla
CAAMA (Central Australian Aboriginal Media Association), Alice Springs
Holmes a Court Collection, Perth
Lauraine Diggins, Melbourne
Shepparton Art Gallery, Shepparton
Private collections, Australia, France, USA

Bibliography

Brody, Anne Marie, Utopia: A Picture Story, Heytesbury Holdings, 1990, Perth, pp. 102-103

West, Margie, ''Telstra National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Award: Celebrating 20 years'', Museum & Art Gallery of the Northern Territory, 2003, pp. 86-87