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Atham-areny
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£4,549.00 £4,549.00
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Description

Awards:
Telstra National Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Award
Finalist Wynne Prize

This painting depicts the women & children covered in body paint singing and dancing with the Witch Doctor. In preparation for their ceremonies, the aboriginal women paint designs on the top half of their bodies using a variety of colours ground from charcoal and red and yellow ochres. The body paint designs vary from ceremony to ceremony and depend on the subject and the time of year the ceremony is held. Different symbols are painted on the body and may vary from person to person depending on the seniority of each member.  At these ceremonial gatherings the women are taught the tribal dreaming or rules of life by the senior women. The atham-areny are spirits who come to steal and hide the babies and children and the women’s ceremony is undertaken to ward off these spirits and protect the their children.

Acrylic on belgian linen, unframed.

Size: 128cm x 94cm.

Location: On display in the gallery during the aboriginal art exhibition December 2025. Refer to our exhibitions page to find out more. 

Code: EDA-AP1536/13.

Frequently bought together

The Artist

Angelina Pwerle Ngala

Angelina Pwerle Ngala (b. c.1947), an Anmatyerre/Alyawarr artist from the Utopia region in Australia's Northern Territory, has established herself as one of the most compelling voices in contemporary Aboriginal art. She is internationally recognised for her luminous interpretations of Bush Plum Dreaming (Arnwekety), rooted in her grandfather's country at Arlparra.

Her signature style lies in the exquisite subtlety of her dotting technique: layered applications of fine dots create shimmering, multi-dimensional surfaces that evoke depth, movement, and the shifting play of light across the desert landscape. These works possess a quiet intensity and refined elegance, often set against deep, resonant backgrounds that lend the dots an almost ethereal, floating quality. Her colour palettes are notably clear and harmonious—pure tones that resonate with sophistication rather than overt drama.

Alongside her celebrated Bush Plum canvases, Angelina has produced striking figurative pieces in bold yet assured colours, as well as whimsical sculptural forms depicting animals and spirit figures. These often feature bright-eyed, expressive creatures rendered with a delightful sense of character, adorned in soft greys, blues, greens, and traditional ochres.
A key figure in the pioneering Utopia women's art movement, she participated in the influential 1988 batik project and transitioned to acrylic on canvas during the landmark CAAMA 'First Works on Canvas' summer initiative of 1988–89. Her early works were included in significant collections, notably that of Robert Holmes à Court, which toured widely.

Her paintings are held in prestigious public institutions and discerning private collections worldwide, including major Australian galleries and international museums such as the Metropolitan Museum of Art. She was a finalist in the 2006 Telstra National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Awards.

For the discerning South West London collector—appreciative of understated mastery, optical subtlety, and works that reward prolonged contemplation—Angelina Pwerle's canvases offer a refined bridge between ancient cultural narratives and contemporary abstraction. Their textured luminosity and tonal restraint sit beautifully in modern interiors, complementing minimalist spaces or more eclectic ensembles with quiet authority.
(Adapted and condensed from sources including The Oxford Companion to Aboriginal Art and Culture, Kleinert & Neale, OUP 2000, with updated context from current gallery and institutional profiles.)
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