OUR COUNTRY is an intergenerational exhibition honouring the artistic and cultural legacy of Emily Kame Kngwarreye and her brother Kudditji Kngwarreye, two of the most influential Anmatyerre artists to emerge from the Utopia region of the Northern Territory. Although each has been celebrated worldwide, their stories have rarely been brought together in the way they were lived: side by side, shaped by kinship, ceremony and the deep responsibilities they carried to Utopia. This exhibition reunites their voices with the authority of those who inherit their culture, memory and obligation.

Presented by family at Pwerle Gallery, OUR COUNTRY recentres community-led storytelling and cultural custodianship in the presentation of their work. Pwerle Gallery is one of the only privately Aboriginal-owned and funded galleries in Australia. It is led by Jade Emily Torres Akamarre, great-great-niece of Emily, granddaughter of Barbara Weir, great-granddaughter of Minnie Pwerle and daughter of Freddy Purla Torres.

Fred Torres founded DACOU (Dreaming Art Centre of Utopia), facilitating the creation of the majority of Emily’s most significant works including Earth’s Creation I-IV and her Final Series collection. DACOU and Pwerle Gallery together hold more than 40 years of direct family knowledge, responsibility and lived cultural continuity.

OUR COUNTRY presents Emily and Kudditji not as distant figures of the global art stage, but as sister and brother, custodians of Country and leaders of ceremony. Their works are placed in quiet and intentional dialogue, revealing shared spiritual foundations and the distinct visual languages through which each expressed Country, memory and Lore. Emily’s explosive fields of mark-making speak next to Kudditji’s deep, atmospheric expanses, both emerging from ancestral knowledge carried carefully through life, practice and obligation.

This is not a reframing of their story.
It is a returning.
A returning to family, to truth and to Country.

For our family, this exhibition is not simply a presentation of two master artists. It is an act of remembrance, responsibility and love. Emily and Kudditji are not distant legends to us; they are sister and brother, aunty and uncle, teachers and kin. Their presence lives through our family, our stories and our obligations to protect what they carried. OUR COUNTRY is how we honour that responsibility: by returning their work to family hands, family story and family truth.

Archival film footage throughout the gallery deepens this returning, offering intimate insight into Emily’s life and practice. Captured within the DACOU workshops and family environments, this rare footage honours her as family remember her; strong, determined, connected and endlessly committed to her culture and her work.

The opening afternoon unfolded as ceremony, sound and storytelling. Guests were welcomed to Country by Ngarrindjeri, Kaurna, Narungga and Tongan man Petiola Wilson, grounding the exhibition in living cultural authority. This was followed by an intimate recital by Seraphim Trio, one of Australia’s most esteemed chamber ensembles, performing works by Beethoven, Schubert and Mozart alongside contemporary Australian compositions by Elena Kats-Chernin, Calvin Bowman, Jakub Jankowski and David John-Lang; a dialogue between classical legacy and contemporary voice that mirrored the exhibition itself.

An Indigenous-led food experience by Something Wild and Munda Wines completed the afternoon, with native-ingredient canapés and grazing boards celebrating seasonal produce, land-based knowledge and the deep relationship between food, story and Country.

This exhibition presents a rare and comprehensive exploration of the late career of Emily Kame Kngwarreye, showcasing work produced between 1991 and 1996, arguably the most transformative years of her practice. Visitors will encounter the remarkable breadth of her creative evolution, from early experimental mark-making to the powerful, gestural abstractions of her final series. Key bodies of work include My Country, Yam Dreaming, Wildflower Dreaming and a profoundly moving work from the Final Series, created in the last weeks of her life.

Alongside this the exhibition honours another towering figure of the Utopia region; Kudditji Kngwarreye, brother of Emily and custodian of the My Country Dreaming. Though not yet afforded the same level of global recognition as Emily, Kudditji’s work represents an equally important cultural and artistic legacy. His bold, meditative colour fields rooted in ceremonial teaching, ancestral track lines and deep knowledge of country, are increasingly acknowledged as some of the most significant contributions to contemporary Aboriginal art. This exhibition marks a pivotal moment in bringing Kudditji’s practice to the global stage, positioning him not as a peripheral figure in Emily’s shadow but as a master in his own right whose work redefines the visual language of the desert.

Together, Emily and Kudditji’s works form an intimate cultural dialogue; two distinct artistic voices grounded in a shared lineage, country and custodial responsibility. Their paintings map the emotional, spiritual and physical landscapes of Utopia, revealing a familial continuum of knowledge that spans generations.

Adding further depth to this narrative is the inclusion of the rare collaborative painting by Emily Kame Kngwarreye and Greeny Purvis Petyarre. Created in 1994, this work offers an invaluable insight into kinship, artistic exchange and ceremonial authority within Anmatyerre culture, while highlighting Emily’s openness to collaboration with her nephew, a respected custodian of the Yam Dreaming. The piece stands as one of the few intergenerational collaborations between senior Utopia artists, a testament to the relational ways knowledge is shared, inherited and honoured.

Together, these works offer a powerful glimpse into the cultural and artistic richness of Utopia, revealing the complexity and innovation of a family whose influence continues to shape Australian and global art.

The exhibition will be on view at Pwerle Gallery from 23 November 2025 to 11 January 2026, offering collectors, curators and the public a rare opportunity to experience this extraordinary body of work firsthand. Private viewings are available by appointment, providing an intimate setting to engage deeply with the collection and its profound cultural significance.

The significance of this exhibition cannot be overstated. This is the first time the story of Emily and Kudditji as sister and brother, as cultural leaders and as family, has been presented publicly by their own descendants. Emily profoundly shifted the global understanding of contemporary Aboriginal art, yet her narrative has often been shaped through institutional distance. Equally, Kudditji’s Dreaming landscapes, which has influenced generations of artists, are here presented beside his sister in cultural truth rather than comparison.

This moment restores balance to their story.
It honours them not only as world-renowned artists, but as Elders and knowledge holders whose teachings and responsibilities continue through their family.
It is a narrative that has never been shared in this way before.

Kudditji Kngwarreye, Utopia circa 1980.

For Pwerle Gallery, OUR COUNTRY is an act of responsibility, continuation and care. All profits from ticket sales are reinvested into the Utopia community, directly supporting culture, Country and community-led initiatives. A portion of artwork sales also contributes to this commitment, ensuring the family and community remain supported as Emily and Kudditji would have wanted. Resale royalties are paid in accordance with the Australian Government’s Resale Royalty Scheme, with an additional percentage continually directed towards family and community.

These exhibitions are not only celebrations. They are mechanisms of cultural protection and long-term support. They ensure that the stories at the heart of this work remain honoured, respected and carried forward by family.

Opening launch of 'Our Country' exhibition at Pwerle Gallery.

Artwork: Emily Kame Kngwarreye x Greeny Purvis Petyarre collaborative piece titled: 'An Enriched Country'.

Something Wild served Baramundi with a lemon myrtle butter.

One hour recital by Seraphim Trio, one of Australia's leading chamber ensembles.