Sarah Kngwarreye

Sarah & Lucky Morton Kngwarreye

Sarah Kngwarreye was born cica 1951, in the vicinity of Mulga Bore, Northern Territory. She is a fully initiated Anmatjerra women and custodian of many important women’s sites sites on Anmatjerra lands.Sarah is a member of the famous Kngwarreye family clan, including international artist Emily Kngwarreye.

Sarah is recognised as a distinguished, unique artist. A series of Sarah’s work referred to as The British Invasion, was purchased by the Australian National Gallery in 1998.

Sarah’s late husband, Louie Pwerle was also a painter and is recognised for his Man’s Business paintings and sculpture.

This painting depicts a traditional camp life setting and daily life on her land painted in a naïve yet powerful style .The viewer can sense the artist’s understanding of and connection to her traditional country and that ofher ancestors. Sarah has included desert grounds and vegetation, as well as details of campfires, food gathering and hunting. Wildflowers bloom after the April wet season. These flowers are seen forming a beautiful carpet throughout the painting. This is a story of the artist’s Anmatjerra people and Women’s Business.

Camplife involves preparation of damper made from Endunga seed grounded and mixed with water. As the seeds are ground, the women talk and sing about Entiberra women’s stories concerning Endunga seed fertility and its association with the women’s fertility .

Every morning women would go down to the river to collect ochre paints for body designs of all the bush food representing the sites around Sandy Creek.
They would all go down to the site where they would sing, dance. In the evening they would all go home.
The ladies call themselves the invisible women, Yukaralyraly, because adorned with body paint, they cannot be seen.
A series of works on the British Invasion were purchased by the Australian National Gallery in 1998.