Audrey Morton Kngwarreye / Wild Flowers (8B)

Audrey Morton was born in 1952 and is from the Alyawarr language group, north east of Alice Springs, Utopia, in the Northern Territory.
Audrey is a member of the famous Kngwarreye family, including International artist Emily Kngwarreye who is recognised as some the most famous female indigenous artist in Australia. Along with her mother, artist Mary Morton Kemarre and sister Lucky, Audrey started working in batik in the late 1970’s and in the early 1980’s began painting on canvas.  Audrey has featured in many exhibitions since 1977, including shows at Utopia Art, Sydney; the Orange Regional Gallery; the Austral Gallery, St Louis, USA; the Royal Hibernian Academy, Dublin, and the Araluen Art Centre, Alice Springs.

Selected Exhibitions
1985 • Second National Aboriginal Art Award Exhibition, Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory 1989 • Utopia Women’s Paintings, the First Works on Canvas, A Summer Project• S.H. Ervin Gallery, Sydney

1990 • Utopia – A Picture Story, an exhibition of 88 works on Silk from the Holmes a Court Collection by Utopia Artists which toured Eire and Scotland • Contemporary Aboriginal Art from the Robert Holmes a Court Collection, Harvard University, University of Minnesota, Lake Oswego Centre for the Arts, USA

1991 • Eighth National Aboriginal Art Award Exhibition, Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory 1994 • Eleventh National Aboriginal Art Award Exhibition, Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory

1998 • Dreamings, Spazio Pitti Arte, Florence, Italy and Vlaams-Europeesch Conferentiecentrum, Brussels, Belgium • Mbantua Gallery, Alice Springs, N.T • Exhibition in Art Centre Meerzigt, Zoetermeer, The Netherlands • “The Hague Unites the Nation”, upon request of the Australian Embassy acting as representatives of Australia, Grote Kerk, The Hague, The Netherlands • Volkenkundig Museum, Rotterdam, The Netherlands • Art Gallery “Culture Store”, Rotterdam, The Netherlands

1999 • Aboriginal Art Galerie Bahr Exhibition, Germany and catalogue

2002 • Mbantua Gallery, Alice Springs, N.T • Art and Soul Gallery, Nashville, Tennessee, U.S.A • ‘The Cove Gallery’ Portland, Oregon USA • Urban Wine Works, Portland, Oregon USA • Mary’s Woods, Portland, Oregon USA

2003 • New City Merchants, Knoxville, Tennessee USA • Art and Soul Gallery, Nashville, Tennessee USA • ‘The Cove Gallery’ Portland, Oregon USA • Contemporary Aboriginal Art Event, Umpqua Bank, Portland, Oregon USA  • Mary’s Woods, Portland Oregon USA • Art From The Dreamtime, Portland Art Museum, Portland Oregon USA

2004 • Mbantua Gallery USA exhibition; Nashville and Greenwich

Collections

• Museum of Victoria, Melbourne • The National Gallery of Australia, Canberra • The Holmes á Court Collection, Perth • Mbantua Gallery Permanent Collection, Alice Springs

This painting represents the Wild Flowers (Alpeyt) of the acacia plant. The Indigenous women from the central desert regions collect the flowers as well as the seeds, leaves and pods from the acacia plant for both traditional bush medicine and food.