Polly Ngale / Bush Plum Dreaming (PN778)

c. 1935 – 2022

Polly Ngale was born c. 1935 into the Anmatyarre tribe. She was married to Ray Yeramba (deceased) and is the elder sister of well known artist Angeline Pwerle Ngale and the late Kathleen Ngale.

Polly was part of the original group of women who taught batik at Utopia in the 1970s before venturing into painting with acrylic paints on canvas. Polly often assisted the late Emily Kngwarreye with whom she shared the same country. Together with her sisters, Polly was a senior custodian of the Bush Plum Dreaming.

Polly depicts the Bush Plum and its effects on her country. She often depicts the topography in shades of reds, oranges, blues, pinks, greens and yellows reflecting the varying seasonal palette.

Like her sister Kathleen she builds up layer upon layer of colour creating a multi-dimensional effect to reveal the Bush Plum Ankwety – and her country – Alparra in all its glory.

Up until her passing in 2022, Polly lived at Camel Camp on Utopia with her family and sisters.

Her work is included in the prestigious Holmes a Court Collection.

Selected Exhibitions

2003
• 20th Telstra National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Award, Museum & Art Gallery of the NT

2000
• Arts d’Australie, Stéphane Jacob / Espace Mezzo – Avenue des Champs-Elysées, Paris

1997
• Peintres aborigenes d’Australie, Paris

1992
• Modern Art – Ancient Icon, The World Bank, Washington, USA 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

1989
• Utopia Women’s Paintings, the First Works on Canvas, A Summer Project

1988-89
• S. H. Ervin Gallery, Sydney

1988
• Aboriginal “Dot” Painting, Melbourne

Selected Collections
• Holmes a Court Collection, Perth
• The World Bank, Washington, USA

Selected Bibliography
• Brody, A., 1989, Utopia Women’s Paintings: the First Works on Canvas, A Summer Project, 1988-89, exhib. cat., Heytesbury Holdings, Perth. (C)
• Brody, A., 1990, Utopia: a Picture Story, 88 Silk Batiks from the Robert Holmes a Court Collection, Heytesbury Holdings Ltd, Perth. (C)
• Aboriginal Artists Dictionary of Biographies – Central Desert, Western Desert & Kimberley Region, written by Janusz B.Kreczmanski & Margo Birnberg

This artwork depicts the Bush Plum (or Conkerberry). Polly is the senior custodian of the Bush Plum Dreaming. The varying composition in colour and pattern reveals the geography of the Bush plum, as well as the artist’s intimate knowledge of significant places, such as clay-pans, soakages and spinifex mounds. Bush Plum is a food source for the Aboriginal people from Utopia in the Eastern desert of Central Australia. The women pay homage through body paint, songlines and dance cycles in their ceremonies. (Characteristics of Polly Ngale’s works are the unique over-dotting using layer upon layer of subtle colours such as cream, pink, blue, green, yellow, purple, orange and white).