Galya Pwerle / Awelye Atnwengerrp (1A)

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.

Galya Pwerle is one of eight children and was born in the Utopia Station region of the Northern Territory.

Galya started painting in 2004. At that time Minnie’s daughter, the well known artist Barbara Weir organised a number of workshop where her three aunts – Molly, Emily and Galya – worked collaboratively and individually to produce a series of paintings based on ceremony and their Dreaming stories.

Like her sisters, Galya’s main title is Awelye Atnwengerrp and whilst the sisters share the same Dreaming, each one has their own interpretation of her Dreaming.

Awelye Atnwengerrp or Women’s Ceremony is represented by designs based on dancing tracks which can only be painted by the Pwerle or Kemarre owners. They are painted on the women’s bodies before ceremony is performed.

Galya lives with her sisters at Irrultja (Urultja) a small community settlement at Utopia 300kms north-east of Alice Springs. She produces highly collectable and desirable artworks which are eagerly sought by collectors and are held in galleries nationally and internationally.

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 Australia, Rosewater, SA.
• Mbantua Gallery, Alice Springs, NT
• Gallery Savah, Sydney, NSW

2006

• ‘The Pwerle Sisters,’ Flinders Lane Gallery, Melbourne, VIC
• “The Pwerle Sisters’, Artmob Gallery, Hobart, TAS
• APS Bendi Lango Art Exhibition, Rio Tinto Offices, Melbourne, VIC
• Gallery Savah, Sydney, NSW
• Fireworks Gallery, Brisbane, QLD

2007

• Dacou Adelaide, Port Adelaide, SA
• ‘Standing on Ceremony’, Tandanya Cultural Institute, Adelaide, SA
• ‘Utopia in New York’ Robert Steele Gallery, New York. USA
• Gallery Savah, Sydney, NSW
• University of NSW, Shalom Department, Kensington, NSW
• Desert Diversity’, Flinders Lane Gallery, Melbourne, VIC
• Group Exhibition, Australian Embassy, Washington, USA
• ‘Treasures of the Spirit – Investing in Aboriginal Art’, Tandanya Cultural Institute,
• Adelaide, SA
• APS Bendi Lango Art Exhibition with Rio Tinto, Fireworks Gallery, Brisbane, QLD
• “New Works from Utopia”, Space Gallery, Pittsburgh, USA

2008

• “Utopia Collection” Japinka Gallery Perth, WA
• “Utopia Discoveries”, Flinders Lane Gallery, Melbourne, VIC
• Gallery Savah, Sydney, NSW
• “Colours”, United Gallery, Sydney, NSW
• Group travelling exhibition to major cities in Australia, “EWB Elements”, presented by Dreamtime Art in conjunction with Dacou
• “Walking Together to Aid Aboriginal Health”, Shalom Gamarada Aboriginal Art Exhibition, University of NSW, Kensington, NSW
• “Women’s Stories”, Alison Kelly Gallery, Richmond, VIC

2009

• “Utopia, Colour’s of the Desert”, Gongpyeong Art Space in conjunction with Dacou, Australian Embassy in Korea & Crossbay Gallery, Seoul, Korea
• Dacou Broome, Broome, WA
• Gallery Savah, Sydney, NSW

Selected Collections

• Fred Torres Collection
• Corrigan Collection
• Mbantua Collection
• Hank Ebes Collection
• Artau Collection

Drawing on the same Dreamings as her sisters (Minnie (dscd), Emily and Molly), Galya paints the seeds of grasses, the bush tomato and the wild orange (which is depicted in this painting in the second layer).

Women’s Ceremony (awelye) is represented by designs based on dancing tracks made in the sand (painted in the first layer of the artwork in this case). These same designs are painted on the women’s bodies before ceremony is performed.