Polly Ngale

Language: Anmaryerre

Country: Utopia

Polly Ngale (Ngala) was born in 1940 in Utopia, an area located 270km North East of Alice Springs. This area is known for producing some of Australia’s most well-known female Aboriginal artists. As with many of the women living in the Utopia Area of the Northern Territory, Polly was introduced to batik in the late 1980's. Now an elder in her community, Polly’s colourful works portray the 'Bush Plum' (Arnwetky), of which she and her sisters, Kathleen and Angelina Ngale are senior custodians. Her paintings depict the bush plum its seeds and its various stages of ripening a feast for emus. She calls on her memory of the many shades of her land and the changing colours of the seasons.
Polly creates her paintings by building up layer upon layer of colour to create multi-dimensional images.