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About the Artists
Our vibrant and dynamic artists are from the Utopia region; a large remote area of Central Australia which, until recently, had no government funded art centre. As a result of their pioneering efforts, they have one of the strongest and richest art histories.
PAST EXHIBITION
Yam Leaf
29 Apr - 10 Jul 2022
Yam Leaf is a colour study of the yam leaf by Utopia artist Dulcie Pwerle in her first Utopia Lane solo exhibition.
Twelve new paintings depict the leaves sweeping across the desert floor, indicating the small pencil-like tubers to be collected below.
EXHIBITION ARTWORK
Artwork no longer available.
Please visit Dulcie Pwerle's collection to view current works.
About
To the west of Central Australia's remote Utopia region is a small Aboriginal Outstation called Boundary Bore. A couple of long dirt roads, and maybe several tracks, will you get you there from the main Sandover Highway.
There are several houses, a school, a small cemetary and an old windmill that is long past providing its intended use.
The people who live here are connected by their kinship and significance to the land. The land is Alhalkere, and this is where Dulcie Pwerle grew up.
Just outside the community is a soakage that used to provide water to the community. At 35 years old, Dulcie is too young to have participated in the practice of collecting its water but those in their 40's and over remember.
Today, Dulcie is sitting under the porch of her home in Alice Springs where she now lives. Next to her is her Aunt Rosemary Petyarre and her cousin Jeannie Mills Pwerle who show me how they used to dig the sand out of the soakages first to find water. They are smiling at the recollection.
That's when Dulcie tells me you can find 'a lot of yams there'. She used to go with her mother, Jeannie Petyarre, and says they would normally collect the yams when they were already out on the land hunting for small game.
The yams are small and slender tubers the size of a pencil, and it's the bright green, slightly heart shaped leaves that emerge from the ground and indicate where to find them. This is what Dulcie paints.
She generally starts in the centre of the canvas, dipping her brush into one to two different colours before applying it onto the canvas in brief successions; imitating the heart-shaped, leaf-like designs in blended shades that sweep out and across the surface.
Dulcie is one of a number of people who paint this classic Utopian style, but with her vivaciousness, flow of form, and history, she is right at home here. Her mother, Jeannie Petyarre, not only painted it as well but was the first to paint it after Gloria Petyarre - the original - with Gloria's full permission.
Now, the exhibition is finally complete and Dulcie can't stop smiling.
Please enjoy these twelve beautiful new Yam Leaf paintings by this Anmatyerre artist, Dulcie Pwerle, made especially for this exhibition 🤍
I go with mum to collect some yams at Bounday Bore. There's lots of yams there." - Dulcie Pwerle
