Aboriginal art depicts culture, tradition and stories from the past. It is a way that Aboriginal people share and continue their culture and their history. To ensure the ongoing survival of Aboriginal culture the stories, traditions, rights and history are passed from generation to generation via song, dance, ceremony and design.

Exhibiting at Mitchell Fine Art is Ambatye Urrpetye (My Family) an Aboriginal art exhibition exploring the generational stories and artistic styles that have been passed from grandmother to daughter to granddaughter. On Saturday July 8 a curator’s talk discussing the artists and the artworks in the exhibition will be held in the gallery from 2:00 pm.

The name Petyarre is synonymous with one of the greatest family art dynasties seen in Australia. A family made up of seven sisters who all rose to prominence through their art. This legacy is strongest through Kathleen Petyarre in her daughter Margaret Loy Pula and granddaughter Abie Loy Kemarre.

Kathleen was born in the 1940’s at Utopia, an Indigenous community approx. 240 kilometres north east of Alice Springs in Central and began painting on canvas in 1988. In 2001 Kathleen won the prestigious 13th Telstra National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Award and her work was acquired by the Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory.
Kathleen’s daughter Margaret Loy Pula paints her culture and her father’s dreaming. In 2011, she was the first female artist to win the Sunshine Coast Art Prize (QLD). Last month Margaret won the Arthur Guy Memorial Prize (2017) at the Bendigo Art Gallery.

Daughter of Margaret Loy Pula, Abie Loy Kemarre has received high accolades and is regarded as one of the leading contemporary Indigenous artists in Australia. She has been a finalist in the Telstra National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Awards in Darwin on several occasions and she has exhibited within Australian and overseas.
Collectively the paintings in this exhibition reflect the ongoing culture and tradition of the Anmatyerre women of Utopia in Central Australia.

To view all works in the exhibition online visit www.mitchellfineartgallery.com.