Region Camel Camp, Utopia, Northern Territory
Kathleen Ngal(e) (born c.1933) is a senior Anmatyerr artist from the Utopia region of Central Australia and one of the respected senior custodians of her Country. Based at Camel Camp, she shares a rich artistic heritage with her sisters, including artists Polly Ngale, Maisie Ngale and Angeline Pwerle Ngale.
Kathleen began her artistic career in the Utopia batik movement before transitioning to acrylic painting on canvas. As a custodian of the Bush Plum (Arnwekety) Dreaming, her paintings celebrate the seasonal rhythms, colours and patterns of her ancestral Country. While sharing this important story with her sisters, Kathleen has developed a distinctive artistic style recognised for its refined composition, rich colour and intricate detail.
Her work has been exhibited extensively throughout Australia and internationally and has been selected as a finalist in the Telstra National Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Art Awards. Kathleen Ngale’s paintings are held in significant public and private collections, and she is recognised as an important artist of the Utopia movement whose work continues to honour the cultural traditions of her Country.
Exhibitions:
- 2000 – Urapunja artists in Brisbane, Micheal Sourgnes
- 2000 – Out of the Desert, Desert Gallery Sydney
- 2001 – Utopia a Special Painting Place, Bett Gallery, Hobart, Tasmania
- 2001 – Desert Mob, Araluen Galleries, NT
- 2001 – Bush Plum Dreaming, Indigenart, Perth, WA
- 2002 – Two Sisters, Kathleen and Polly, Lorraine Diggings, Melbourne
- 2002 – Australian Modern, Fondazione Mudima, Milan, Italy
- 2004 – Desert Mob, Araluen Galleries, NT
- 2006 – Lorraine Diggins exhibition, London
- 2006 – Senior Women of Utopia, GalleryG, Brisbane
- 2007 – Patterns of Power, Art from the Eastern Desert, Simmer on the Bay Gallery, Sydney
- 2007 – Desert Song, Brush with Art Festival, Prairie Hotel, Parachilna, South Australia
- 2008 – Power of Place, Tandanya National Aboriginal Cultural Institute Inc.
- 2008 – Emily Kngwarreye and Her Legacy, Tokyo, Japan