S8, Ep 50 - Emily Kam Kngwarray: Renowned Australian Desert Artist

Welcome back! In this new series, Unpaused is changing direction. No longer about corporate women reinventing corporate careers, the new Unpaused will be about women who broke with their careers and found a new calling by making something important with their hands. Judy has tried to bring the visual into the realm of the podcast to better convey these transformations in both colour and texture so have a look at Unpaused’s new website and Instagram page for more.

 

To ignite this new chapter, Judy delves into the story of the renowned Australian desert artist, Emily Kam Kngwarray. One of the most significant painters to emerge in the late twentieth century,  Kngwarray's monumental canvases and vibrant batiks immediately conjure her life as an elder from the Utopia region of Australia. Remarkably she only found her calling in her 8th decade, beginning a career as an artist that lasted until her death at 86 or thereabouts.

 

Emily's international renown has been fostered, in part, by gallerist D’Lan Davidson of Dlan Contemporary in Melbourne.

 

In this interview, Judy speaks to D’Lan and the Head of Research at D'Lan Contemporary, Vanessa Meloni, and joins with them in an exploration of Emily’s remarkable late-life awakening.

 

Show Notes

D'Lan Contemporary

National Gallery of Australia

Tate Modern

// Hosted by Judy Stewart // Produced by Caroline Hughes for Feast Collective//Sound Engineer: Jason Millhouse

// Instagram: ⁠@_unpaused⁠ // Website: ⁠www.unpaused.net