Emily Kam Kngwarray
Pace Gallery will present a major solo exhibition of Aboriginal Australian artist Emily Kam Kngwarray this May, marking the gallery’s first dedicated presentation of her work in New York and following the landmark retrospective at London’s Tate Modern. Organised in collaboration with D Lan Galleries, the exhibition brings together works from across Kngwarray’s most celebrated series in a comprehensive chronological survey, tracing the development of her practice from early batik works to her acclaimed late paintings. A senior Anmatyerr artist from Alhalker in the Utopia region, Kngwarray developed a powerful visual language grounded in Country, ceremony, and The Dreaming, translating ancestral knowledge into expansive, rhythmic fields of mark-making. From delicate linear compositions to her luminous, high-colour canvases, her works redefined abstraction through a distinctly Indigenous lens, highlighting systems of knowledge embedded in land and kinship. Positioned within an international context, the exhibition underscores Kngwarray’s enduring influence and the growing recognition of First Nations artists within the global canon. From May 15 to August 14.
Image credit: Emily Kam Kngwarray, Mern Anwelarr, 1992. Acrylic on linen, 150 cm × 120 cm, ©Emily Kam Kngwarray, Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
