ARTIST’S PROFILE
The Pwerle Sisters
(Molly, Emily, Galya)
When Minnie Pwerle passed away in March 2006, she left a legacy of artworks memorable for their amazing colour and flowing imagery. Three of her sisters are carrying on the tradition of Minnie’s depiction of the art of Utopia, each with their own individual style but all boldly displaying the same inspiration and zest for art and their culture and love of their country.
In 2004 Molly, Emily and Galya Pwerle began painting together with their famous sister Minnie. Aged from 80-90 they, like Minnie, have lived a Traditional life in their desert homeland of Irrultja, a tiny settlement in Utopia of about 100 people, with very little real exposure to the rigours of western culture. Each lady produces artworks possessing an illusive magic hard to define, full of colour and movement and fluid execution. Collectors world-wide are still amazed, as they were with the works of the late Emily Kngwarreye and Minnie, that such modern images could possibly be forthcoming from artists who had never visited an art gallery nor had any knowledge of the European artists with whom they have all been compared.
All three sisters have participated in collaborative pieces, and whilst their patterns sit well together, with the designs representing the same Dreaming of "Awleye Atnwengerrp”, each has an undeniably unique and instantly recognisable style.
Along with their extended family of renowned artists, Barbara Weir, Aileen and Betty Mpetyane, these Elder ladies Molly, Emily and Gayla Pwerle are all producing highly collectable and desirable artworks.
Selected Exhibitions
2005
- Permanent exhibition and collection, Dacou, Adelaide
- Mbantua Gallery, Alice Springs
- Gallery Savah, Sydney
2006
- ‘The Pwerle Sisters,’ Flinders Lane Gallery, Melbourne
- APS Bendi Lango Art Exhibition, Melbourne
- 'The Pwerle Sisters’, Artmob Gallery, Hobart
2007
- Fireworks Gallery, Brisbane
- ‘Standing on Ceremony’, Tandanya Cultural Institute, Adelaide
- ‘Utopia in New York’ Robert Steele Gallery, New York
- ‘Shalom’, University of NSW, Kensington
- ‘Desert Diversity’, Flinders Lane Gallery, Melbourne
- Australian Embassy, Washington, USA
- ‘Treasures of the Spirit – Investing in Aboriginal Art’, Tandanya Cultural Institute, Adelaide
- “New Works from Utopia”, Space Gallery, Pittsburgh