Born c1940
Died 2022
Region Utopia, Northern Territory
Language Anmatyerre

Polly Ngale (c.1940–2022) was a senior Anmatyerre artist from Utopia, approximately 240 kilometres north-east of Alice Springs in the Northern Territory. As one of the oldest generation of women artists from the region, she played an important role in the development of the celebrated Utopia art movement.

Like many Utopia women, Polly began her artistic journey in the 1970s through the pioneering batik movement, which introduced Aboriginal women to contemporary art practice while drawing on traditional cultural knowledge. She later transitioned to painting, where she developed a distinctive style characterised by richly layered colour and expressive compositions. She also shared a close artistic relationship with her sister, the acclaimed artist Kathleen Ngale, with whom she often painted.

Polly’s paintings celebrate the landscapes and seasonal cycles of her Country. Recurring themes include the bush plum and its vibrant yellow seeds, shifting desert colours, and designs associated with Awelye – Women’s Ceremony and cultural law. Through luminous fields of colour and intricate mark-making, her works evoke the rhythms of the land and the enduring connection between people, place and ancestral knowledge.

Her paintings have been exhibited throughout Australia and internationally and are held in numerous public and private collections, reflecting her significant contribution to contemporary Aboriginal art.

EXHIBITIONS
2019 Polly Ngale & Charmaine Pwerle, Harvey Galleries, Sydney
2019 Defining tradition | the colourists, Kate Owen Gallery, Sydney
2019 International Women’s Day, Kate Owen Gallery, Sydney
2018 Beyond the Veil, Olsen Gruin, New York
2010 Spring, Kate Owen Gallery Sydney
2014 Dot Code: Desert Artists, Japingka Gallery, Fremantle WA
2015 Sixteen Artists – 16 x 2, Japingka Gallery, Fremantle WA
2009 Utopia – Bush Plum & Other delicacies, Honey Ant Gallery, Noosa, Queensland.
2009 Size Matters, Kate Owen Gallery, Sydney, NSW
2008 Utopia Revisited, NG Art Gallery, Sydney.
2007 Journeys and Dreams, Gecko Gallery, Broome.
2007 Visions of Utopia, Coo-ee Aboriginal Art, Sydney.
2003 20th Telstra National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Award,
Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory, Darwin.
2002 Two Sisters: Kathleen and Polly Ngale, Lauraine Diggins Fine Art, Melbourne.
2000 Arts Australie, Arts Australie, Stephane Jacob/Air France, Paris.
2000 Arts Australie, Arts Australie, Stephane Jacob/Espace Mezzo, Avenue des Champs- Elysees, Paris.
1990 Utopia – A Picture Story, an exhibition of 88 works on silk from the
Holmes a Court Collection by Utopia artists which toured Ireland and Scotland.
1989 Utopia Women Painting, the First Works on Canvas, A Summer Project, 1988 – 89, SH Ervin Gallery, Sydney.

COLLECTIONS
Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide
The Holmes à Court Collection, Perth
The World Bank, Washington