Kathleen Ngale (Kngale)

View Kathleen Ngale's Biography and Curriculum Vitae 

In Kathleen Ngale’s paintings, we see the artist in full bloom at the height of her power and confidence, creating these wonderful clouds of luminosity, which are deeply rooted in her Wild Plum dreaming story, with the pigmentation reflecting the stages and evolution of the fruit and flowers of the wild plum bush. Her paintings celebrate the good season and productivity of her country and, most importantly, the survival of her people and their culture through their art.

Kathleen Ngale’s (Kngale) primary Dreaming is the Wild Plum, a very productive and prolific fruit that is full of nutrients and vitamins and therefore highly valued. Kathleen's interpretation of the delicious and colourful wild plum becomes more important as her work progresses. As she has grown older, she has become not only more knowledgeable but also a greater authority on her tribal ceremonial life. This is reflected in the power and confidence of her more recent paintings. The older Aboriginal women teach the younger ones, not only when to eat the fruit, but the exact location of their favourite gathering grounds, teaching them to pay close attention as to where the rains have fallen and therefore when and where they can find the fruit. In a land of drought, where quite often there are infrequent summer storms, a complex understanding of their environment and of nature was essential for survival. When Kathleen paints today, the young girls still gather around to watch, while her sisters and other friends also paint and enjoy each others company. This celebration of life, while passing on her culture through the subliminal mapping of her country, is expressed most poignantly in Kathleen's most recent vibrant works on canvas, currently available for sale through our online gallery.

The extraordinary colours of her paintings

Kathleen Ngale’s (Kngale) paintings from earlier years for Delmore Gallery, in 1989 and 1990, were quite formal and structured, very much influenced by the traditional body painting (awelye) of the women of her tribe. Gradually, through the decade of the 90's (in which time she painted and had artworks for sale almost exclusively for Delmore), she became less structured and more adventurous in the use of form and colour. In the late 90's and early 2000 period, her dotting was fine and controlled, flowing into extraordinary clouds of pastel colours. As her confidence and experience grew, she began to experiment with richer more vibrant hues, and with different brushes, resulting in the exciting, energetic and brilliant clouds of vivid intensity, which we see today. 

Browse Kathleen Ngale (Kngale) artworks for sale in Delmore Gallery’s online store or contact us for further details.