Kathleen Petyarre
Born: c1940 Atnangkere NT
Language: Eastern Anmatyerre
Country: Alyawarre/Eastern Anmatyerre
Area: Eastern Desert, Central Australia

A common theme of Kathleen’s paintings refers to Arnkerrthe, Mountain or Thorny Devil Lizard, a small lizard that has spikes on its back and lives in the desert, crossing vast terrain and changing colour according to its environment. The long distance of its journeys can be felt in the landscape of Kathleen’s works. The sacred Dreaming site of the Mountain Devil Lizard is located in the vicinity of Mosquito Bore on Utopia Station. This Dreaming site can be identified within Kathleen’s paintings by a group of sand-hills that rise majestically from the desert floor. In 1996, Kathleen was the winner of the Telstra National Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Art Award and in 1998 the winner of the People’s Choice Award at the Seppelts Contemporary Art Award Exhibition at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney. Her work features in numerous national and international private, corporate and public collections including the Collection de Musee des Arts d’Afrique et d’Oceanie, Paris, France.

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