Kathleen's work captures all the features of the bush plum including the plums ongoing process of ripening throughout the seasons, its topography and the women's journey in search of the bush plum.
Using art, Kathleen conveys her dreamings of the Bush Plum, or Arnwekety. Kathleen captures all the features of the bush plum including the plums ongoing process of ripening throughout the seasons, its topography and the women's journey in search of the bush plum. It is a highly valued food source in the Utopian region.
Kathleen Ngale's early work was reminiscent of the traditional body painting of her people, her style was heavily structured and conventional. As the years progressed, Kathleen broadened her technique, experimenting in the late 1990's with pastel colours and freer movement in her brush stroke. Using a detailed layering scheme of colour and dots, Kathleen firstly layed down on the canvas a structured pattern of dots in rich colours of yellow ochres, purples, lilacs and reds.
Additionaly, Kathleen dotted using a freer brush stroke with a palette of pastel colours of creams, lavender, pinks, greens and light blues. Combining both the traditional structures of her tribe and an adventurous style of her own, Kathleen created truly unique and expressive of her journey and deep spiritual connection to the land.
Kathleen Ngale has been acclaimed as one of the most significant and exciting artists in contemporary Aboriginal Art. The journey of Kathleen Ngale as an artist has allowed her to grow in confidence and skill ultimately cementing her name as a highly talented artist. Her swirls of pastel colours celebrating the Bush Plum and its journey symbolizes the survival of her peoples culture in the modern world. In 2000, she was exhibited by Stephan Jacob in Paris, followed in 2001 by Songlines Gallery, San Francisco. She has taken part in over twenty exhibitions over the past ten years and is represented in the collections of both The National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne and The National Gallery of Australia, Canberra. Kathleen has been a finalist in the Telstra Art Award and is now recognised by important private collectors around the world.