A senior Anmatyerr woman from the Utopia region of Australia, Emily Kam Kngwarray created vibrant batik textiles that encapsulated her ritual, spiritual, and ceremonial connection to her native land. A custodian of women’s dreaming sites in Alhalkere and a founding member of the Utopia Women’s Batik group—a collective of 21 Aboriginal women artists—Kngwarray turned to painting in her late seventies. During the eight years before her death, she produced an astonishing 3,000 canvases—roughly one per day—that are now celebrated for their detail and precision.
Though regarded as one of the greats of Australian art, Kngwarray has never received a large-scale presentation in Europe. That is set to change in 2025. In collaboration with the National Gallery of Australia, London’s Tate Modern will stage a major solo exhibition dedicated to Kngwarray, offering international audiences a rare opportunity to engage with her oeuvre. The show will feature textiles, paintings, and works on paper from the 1970s, ’80s, and ’90s, many of which have never been seen outside Australia.
According to the Tate, this exhibition reflects its ongoing commitment to better representing Australian art in its collection and programming. Following the museum’s recent acquisition of Archie Moore’s Golden Lion–winning installation kith and kin (2024)—an exploration of the expansiveness of First Nations Australian history—Kngwarray’s show could mark a new chapter for the recognition of Australian art at one of the U.K.’s leading art institutions.
