By Adriana

The artist I have chosen is Emily Kame Kngwarreye because I like her style of art and that she shows that it’s never too late to start doing what you love.

Emily was born in September 1910. She grew up in an Aboriginal homeland community area known as Utopia. It is 230 kilometers north-east of Alice Springs.

Emily did painting for a hobby but didn’t take painting seriously until she was nearly 80. Her first painting on canvas was painted over the summer of 1988-89 and she painted the ‘Emu Woman.’ Her painting became very popular overnight.

Emily did something very different and new when she painted ‘Emu Woman.’ The dots are not the same size and when I look at it, it looks like she just kind of went with the flow when she painted. She didn’t paint in the traditional dot and circle style that lots of artists did at that time and still use today.  

Another one of my favourite pieces of her art is called, ‘My Mother’s Country.’ It has beautiful pinks, purple, blue, whites and red. It is to reflect the desert landscape of her mother’s country. I think she really shows the beautiful, natural colours of her land.

She was 85 years old when she passed away in 1996. She lives on through her art.