Jennifer Purvis Kngwarreye

Jennifer Purvis Kngwarreye was born on 11th January 1974 and is the daughter of senior Utopian law man and collectable Aboriginal artist, Greeny Purvis Petyarre (who sadly passed away in 2010) and Kathleen Purvis Kemarre. Jennifer, the youngest in the family, has three older sisters, Judy, Maureen and Jedda Purvis. The family come from the Utopia region in Central Australia and are from the Anmatyerre language group. Jennifer comes from a region well known for producing some of the most highly collectable and well known Aboriginal artists, including her aunt, the famous, Emily Kame Kngwarreye.

Jennifer was encouraged to learn and develop her artistic talent by her family; all of her sisters have been painting for many years. In the early 2000’s Jennifer began to take her artwork seriously and was an emerging artist who created a fascinating patchwork like pattern depicting the Dreaming story of the Bush Yam. There are two parts to the story, one which belongs predominantly to Alhakere country and the other that belongs to Arnumarra country (both in the Utopia region). Two different seeds were born which created to different species for the Pencil Yam plant, one called Atnwelarr (for Alhakere country) and the other Arlatyeye (for Arnumarra country). To pay homage to the Bush Yam the people from Alhakere country will perform ceremonies to pay homage to the spirit of the Bush Yam and ensure its future germination.

After several years as a local artist in Alice Springs she participated in several group exhibitions with local galleries. I (Sabine Haider, Director, Central Art) share friendships with all of Jennifer’s sisters, and when Jennifer was regularly painting would see her regularly. Jennifer is no longer painting on a regular basis due to cultural obligations; I see her as a very promising artist and hope that she will continue to pursue her painting later on down the track. Our gallery certainly misses not only her Bush Seed Dreaming artworks but also her beautiful smile.