Jessie Hunter Petyarre / Awelye and Alpeyt (19463)

Jessie Pitjara Hunter was born c. 1957 at MacDonald Downs Station, approx. 280km north of Alice Springs.  Her country is Atwengerrp.

Jessie is a member of one of the most renowned painting families in Australia. Her aunt was Minnie Pwerle and her great-aunt was Emily Kame Kngwarreye, two of our most celebrated artists. Her mother, artist Molly Pwerle, was Minnie’s sister. Jessie’s sisters, Annie Hunter Petyarre and Susan Hunter Petyarre and her older brother, Sandy Hunter Petyarre are all accomplished artists. Jessie resides with her extended family at the outstation of Irrultja on Utopia and lives a traditional way of life spending all her time in the bush.

Jessie has featured in many group exhibitions since beginning her artistic career in the late 1980’s. She participated in batik workshops that were held in Utopia with her mother and siblings. Like most other batik artists living in Utopia, Jessie made the transition to painting in the summer of 1988-9 as part of CAAMA’s “The First works on Canvas, a Summer Project”. Her work is represented in the Holmes a Court Collection which was exhibited extensively within Australia and abroad.

Jessie has gained a following for her fine painting technique and the care and pride she takes in her work, producing intricate and sensitive paintings that relate to the traditional culture of her Alyawarre heritage.

Selected Collections
• National Gallery of Australia, Canberra
• The Holmes a Court Collection, Perth
• The Art Gallery of New South Wales
• Aboriginal Art Museum, The Netherlands
• Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane

Selected Exhibitions
• 2018 Delmore Gallery: Utopia Women, Merricks Art Gallery, Victoria, Australia
• 2016 Utopia Sisters – The Petyarre Women, Delmore Gallery with RedSea Gallery, Brisbane, QLD
• 2013 Landscape of our Dreaming, Red Poles, McLaren Vale
• 2012 Utopian art, Without Pier Gallery, Melbourne
• 2009 East-West, Prairie Hotel, Parachilna, South Australia
• 2009 Aboriginal art in Korea, Gong Pyeong Art Space, Seoul
• 2008 Power of Place, Tandanya Adelaide
• 2007 Standing on Ceremony, Tandanya Cultural Institute Adelaide
• 2005 Black Ink: Indigenous Prints from the Queensland Art Gallery Collection, Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane.
• 2005 Yam Dreaming – Atnwelarre, Mbantua Gallery, Alice Springs
• 2005 Small Wonders, Mbantua Gallery, Alice Springs
• 2003 Heart and Soul, Mbantua Gallery, Alice Springs
• 2002 Galerie Le Temps du Reve, France
• 2002 Hogarth Galleries, Sydney
• 2002 Glen Eira City Gallery, Melbourne
• 2002 Generations, Japingka Gallery, Perth
• 2001 Japingka Gallery, Perth
• 2001 Raintree Aboriginal Art Gallery, Darwin
• 2001 Painting Country, Tandanya, Adelaide
• 2000 DACOU (in association with AMP), Mary Place Gallery, Sydney
• 2000 Artists of Utopia, Tandanya, Adelaide
• 2000 Women’s Business, Australian Exhibition Centre, Chicago, USA
• 1999 BMG Art, Adelaide
• 1999 Caring for Country – Artists of Utopia, Tandanya, Adelaide
• 1998 Quadrivium Gallery, Sydney
• 1997 The Milky Way Dreaming, Rebecca Hossak, London
• 1997 Sutton Gallery, Melbourne
• 1997 DACOU Gallery, Adelaide
• 1996 Utopia Dreaming, Soho Gallery, Sydney
• 1990 Utopia: A Picture Story, 88 works on silk from The Holmes a Court Collection that toured Scotland and to Harvard University, USA
• 1988 Utopia Womens Paintings – the First Works on Canvas, A Summer Project, S. H. Ervin Gallery, Sydney.
• 1985 The Second National Aboriginal Art Award Exhibition, Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory, Darwin.
• 1989 A Myriad of Dreaming: Twentieth Century Aboriginal Art, Westpac Gallery, Melbourne; Design Warehouse, Sydney

This painting represents Awelye (Women’s Ceremonial Body Paint) and the Wild Flowers (Alpeyt) of the acacia plant.

The linear designs in this artwork illustrate Awelye. The women apply the body paint designs onto their breasts, arms and thighs singing as each woman takes their turn to be ‘painted up’. Their songs relate to the dreaming stories of ancestral travel and other totemic plants, animals and natural forces. Awelye demonstrates respect for the land. In performing these ceremonies they ensure well-being and happiness within their communities. The roundels depict the waterholes around which the women perform ceremony, and the U shapes represent the women.

The Wild Flowers are from the acacia plant. The Indigenous women from the Utopia region collect the flowers as well as the seeds, leaves and pods from the acacia plant for both traditional bush medicine and food.