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Galya Pwerle BIOGRAPHY
Born 1930 Atnwengerrp, Australia. Known for: Aboriginal theme painting.
Utopia artist Galya Pwerle's country is Atnwengerrp and her languages are Anmatyerre and Alyawarre. She is thought to be in her early 80's although no records of her birth exist, and she has had... Read full biography
Utopia artist Galya Pwerle's country is Atnwengerrp and her languages are Anmatyerre and Alyawarre. She is thought to be in her early 80's although no records of her birth exist, and she has had little exposure to western culture. Her Dreaming is for Bush Melon and its seeds, and she paints 'Awelye... Read full biography
Utopia artist Galya Pwerle's country is Atnwengerrp and her languages are Anmatyerre and Alyawarre. She is thought to be in her early 80's although no records of her birth exist, and she has had little exposure to western culture. Her Dreaming is for Bush Melon and its seeds, and she paints 'Awelye Atnwengerrp', which refers to the women's awelye ceremonies that celebrate this bush tucker through dance and song. Galya begins her paintings on canvas with the patterns women paint on their bodies... Read full biography
Utopia artist Galya Pwerle's country is Atnwengerrp and her languages are Anmatyerre and Alyawarre. She is thought to be in her early 80's although no records of her birth exist, and she has had little exposure to western culture. Her Dreaming is for Bush Melon and its seeds, and she paints 'Awelye Atnwengerrp', which refers to the women's awelye ceremonies that celebrate this bush tucker through dance and song. Galya begins her paintings on canvas with the patterns women paint on their bodies during awelye ceremonies, paying homage to their ancestors, the land and food it provides. The body painting lines and concentric circles are just visible beneath the rich layers of dots that represent the flowers and fruit of the bush melon. Her... Read full biography
Utopia artist Galya Pwerle's country is Atnwengerrp and her languages are Anmatyerre and Alyawarre. She is thought to be in her early 80's although no records of her birth exist, and she has had little exposure to western culture. Her Dreaming is for Bush Melon and its seeds, and she paints 'Awelye Atnwengerrp', which refers to the women's awelye ceremonies that celebrate this bush tucker through dance and song. Galya begins her paintings on canvas with the patterns women paint on their bodies during awelye ceremonies, paying homage to their ancestors, the land and food it provides. The body painting lines and concentric circles are just visible beneath the rich layers of dots that represent the flowers and fruit of the bush melon. Her abundant and lively dotting in the rich warm colours of the bush allows for mesmerizing textural complexity similar to tha... Read full biography
Artist Biography
Biography page for Galya Pwerle ((Born 1930)), known for Aboriginal theme painting. Showing 2 biographical entries and 0 sample artworks.
Galya Pwerle - Artist Info
About Galya Pwerle
Biography from the Archives of askART
Utopia artist Galya Pwerle's country is Atnwengerrp and her languages are Anmatyerre and Alyawarre. She is thought to be in her early 80's although no records of her birth exist, and she has had little exposure to western culture. Her Dreaming is for Bush Melon and its seeds, and she paints 'Awelye Atnwengerrp', which refers to the women's awelye ceremonies that celebrate this bush tucker through dance and song.
Galya begins her paintings on canvas with the patterns women paint on their bodies during awelye ceremonies, paying homage to their ancestors, the land and food it provides. The body painting lines and concentric circles are just visible beneath the rich layers of dots that represent the flowers and fruit of the bush melon. Her abundant and lively dotting in the rich warm colours of the bush allows for mesmerizing textural complexity similar to that of the late Emily Kame Kngwarreye, and expresses well the scattering of the tiny seeds into the wind.
Galya is the youngest of the Pwerle sisters, and many of her family members are artists, including her eldest sister the late Minnie Pwerle, her niece Barbara Weir, and her extended family members Aileen and Betty Mpetyane. Galya first began to paint on canvas in 2004 with her older sisters Molly and Emily in a painting workshop organized by Barbara, and Minnie took a close and supportive role in the development of her younger sisters' paintings. Galya was nominated in 2005 and 2008 for the Telstra Art Award.
EXHIBITIONS
2005 Group exhibition, Mbantua
Gallery, Alice Springs, NT
2005 Finalist for the Telstra Awards
2006 'The Pwerle Sisters' Group exhibition, Flinders Lane Gallery, Melbourne, VIC
2006 Group Exhibition, APS Bendi
Lango Art Exhibition, Rio Tinto Offices, Melbourne, VIC
2007 'Utopia in New York' Robert
Steele Gallery, New York. USA.
2007 Annual Group Exhibition
'Shalom', University of NSW, Shalom Department, Kensington, NSW.
2007 'Desert Diversity', Flinders Lane
Gallery, Melbourne, VIC.
2007 Group Exhibition, Australian
Embassy, Washington, USA.
2007 'Treasures of the Spirit',
Tandanya Cultural Institute, Adelaide, SA.
2007 Group exhibition, "New Works
from Utopia", Space Gallery,
Pittsburgh, PA, USA.
2008 Group exhibition, "Utopia
Discoveries", Flinders Lane Gallery, Melbourne, VIC.
2008 Finalist for the 25th Telstra
Awards.
2008 Group travelling exhibition to major cities of Australia, "EWB Elements", presented by DACOU in conjunction with Dreamtime Art and Engineers Without Borders.
2008 Solo exhibition, "Galya Pwerle -
Fruits of the Desert", DACOU
Melbourne, Middle Park, VIC.
2009 "Utopia, Color's of the Desert",
Gongpyeong Art Space in conjunction with DACOU, Australian Embassy in Korea & Crossbay Gallery, Seoul, Korea
2009 "Walking Together to Aid
Aboriginal Health", Shalom Gamarada Aboriginal Art Exhibition, University of NSW, Kensington, NSW.
2010 "Utopia", Group exhibition,
DACOU Melbourne, Middle Park, VIC.
2010 "McCulloch's Aboriginal Art -
The Summer Show", group exhibition, Salt Contemporary Art, Queenscliff, VIC.
2010 "Desert Rhythms", group
exhibition, Flinders Lane Gallery, Melbourne, VIC.
2010 "A Summer Exhibition from The
Lands", group exhibition, McCulloch's Aboriginal Art and Flinders Village Café, Flinders, VIC.
2010 "The Pwerle Sisters" Group
Exhibition, DACOU Australia,
Melbourne, VIC.
Source:
"Galya Pwerele", DACOU Aboriginal Art, //www.dacou.com.au/galya-pwerle-detailed-bio/cat_36390.htmlBiography from Ozbid Auctions (formerly Arthouse Auctions)
"Galya is the youngest of the Pwerle sisters, born in around 1925 in the remote Utopia station community (350km north east of Alice Springs) Galya Pwerle is sister to Emily Pwerle, Molly Pwerle and the hugely successful Aboriginal artist Minnie Pwerle – Togther known as “The Pwerle Sisters”.
Galya is also the aunt of acclaimed artist Barbara Weir (Minnie Pwerle’s daughter). Throughout 2004, Barbara Weir organised a workshop for the sisters, where they produced an amazing body of works. Occasionally they would collaborate on one artwork together.
Like her sisters, Galya’s paintings depict traditional women's ceremonies known as “Awelye Atnwengerrp” which is broadly translated as Women’s Dreaming. Although all the sisters share the same Dreaming, each one has their own completely unique interpretation of the Dreaming.
The bold expressive lines in Galya’s paintings are said to represent body paint designs, dancing tracks made in the sand during women’s ceremonies and sacred places where the ceremonies take place."