Janet Golder Kngwarreye: Painting Utopia
Janet Golder Kngwarreye is an Anmatyerre artist from Mulga Bore on the Utopia Homelands in Central Australia. She was born in 1973, has been painting since 1987, and she's been one of the most consistent artists we've worked with.
Utopia
The Utopia Homelands sit north-east of Alice Springs, on the traditional lands of the Anmatyerre and Alyawarre people. The name came from the cattle station set up there in 1927.
The art from Utopia started with batik. In 1978, ahead of a land claim hearing, the women of Utopia began making batik on silk, and the following year the community won title to the land. In 1988 artists were introduced to canvas and acrylic paint, and Utopia produced some of the best-known painters in the country, Emily Kame Kngwarreye and Kudditji Kngwarreye among them.
The batik years left a mark on how Utopia artists paint. Building up layers of pattern and letting the lower layers show through is a big part of the Utopia style, and you can see it in Janet's work today.
Family
Janet comes from one of the strongest painting families in Utopia. Her grandfather was Kudditji Kngwarreye, and his older sister was Emily Kame Kngwarreye. Her grandmothers Polly Ngale and Angelina Pwerle were both respected Utopia artists, and her uncle is Greeny Purvis.
Janet grew up watching her family move their designs from sand and body paint onto silk during the batik years. She learned by sitting beside her grandmother Polly and watching her paint.
Now she passes it on. Janet taught her sister Belinda Golder Kngwarreye, and later Katrina Bird Golder and Rochelle Bird Mbitjana, who all paint today.
What she paints
Most of Janet's work sits under the title My Country (Utopia). These are aerial views of her Country: rock holes, underground springs, hills and sacred places, bush tucker and bush flowers, recorded from memory.
She also paints women's stories, including awelye (women's ceremony and body paint), bush yam and bush medicine leaves.
Her fine, layered dot work is her own. Nobody taught her to paint that way. She often works bold black and white design against colour, and she has a soft spot for blues and greens.
What she has achieved
Janet has been painting for almost 40 years and has shown her work in group exhibitions in Perth and Hobart. In Alice Springs her work has been commissioned for public projects with Coles and Bendigo Bank, and in 2014 she was invited to turn a Smeg fridge into an artwork for the National Architecture Awards in Darwin.
When Janet is in Adelaide she paints here at the gallery in Edwardstown, so some of the works below were painted a few metres from where they now hang.
"My Country (Utopia)" Janet Golder Kngwarreye 196cm x 184cm
One of the most ambitious paintings she has done for us. Golds, ochres and oranges right across the canvas, with her white line work weaving through all of it.
"My Country (Utopia)" Janet Golder Kngwarreye 201cm x 149cm
The same warm earth tones, cut through with blues and violets. Every patch of the canvas is its own small world of pattern.
"My Country (Utopia)" Janet Golder Kngwarreye 200cm x 126cm
A cooler palette. Blues, yellows and soft greens, closer to the colours Janet says she loves most.
"My Country (Utopia)" Janet Golder Kngwarreye 198cm x 93cm
Pinks, blues and purples in a long horizontal format. Made for over a sofa, a sideboard or a bed.
"Alhalkere" Janet Golder Kngwarreye 150cm x 91cm
A different side of Janet. Soft mauves and dusky pinks with a glow of yellow through the centre, and fine white dot work laid over the top.
"My Country (Utopia)" Janet Golder Kngwarreye 145cm x 94cm
Desert reds, oranges and pinks with flashes of yellow. The warmest painting in the group.
If you're in Adelaide, come and see Janet's work in person at the gallery at 1070 South Road, Edwardstown. The detail doesn't come through on a screen.