Utopia

Connecting Land + Ceremony 

16 February – 1 March

Metropolis Gallery is proud to present in association with the Dreaming Art Centre of Utopia an exhibition of paintings by prominent Aboriginal artists from the Utopia region, including Gloria Petyarre, Emily Pwerle, Minnie Pwerle, Barbara Weir, Molly Pwerle and Galya Pwerle. There is also a fine selection of rare works on paper by Gloria Petyarre.

From the dense, swaying, linear brushstrokes of Barbara Weir’s Grass Seed Dreaming paintings to Gloria Petyarre’s Bush Medicine and Mountain Devil Dreaming and the Womens’ Ceremony paintings of Emily Pwerle, these expressive works represent the continuing ancient, oral Stories that give Aboriginal people practical information about their land, flora, fauna and culture. Utopia artists’ paintings depict seeds, grasses, berries, yams and other plants that are important to women’s ceremonies and reference ceremonial body designs that curve and bend as they follow the contours of the body.

Emily Pwerle