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Gloria Petyarre |
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Gloria was born around 1945 in her country of Atnangkere. She lived in the traditional ways before moving to one of the established settlements, Utopia. The Utopia Pastoral Lease was drawn up in 1927 and forced many of the Aboriginal people in this area out of their traditional lands. In 1977 the people of Utopia gained a 99 year leasehold on the Utopia Pastoral Lease which was purchased through the Aboriginal Land Fund Council. The commission employed a white manager during the first year to provide a transition for the cattle operation. This proved unsatisfactory and the community began to discuss moving back to their traditional lands. All this change in 1977, with the beginnings of the Batik program, which excelled providing the town of Utopia with an income and a claim of recognition. Gloria was one of the original artist employed in this program. The batik program was a major success, with Gloria being one of the leading artists in this format. Her work gained rapid recognition and was seen by Rodney Gooch from CAAMA. He approached the Utopia artists with a plan called 'A Summer Project'. The idea was simple, supply the women and men with canvas and acrylics and have them use their techniques on Batik in the new format. The project was a major success, with Gloria and many other artist moving full time into acrylic on canvas. Her main Dreamings that she paints are the Mountain Devil Lizard, Bean, Emu, Pencil Yam, Grass Seed and Small Brown Grass and well as the traditional body paint designs worn by women. In 1990 she traveled to Ireland, London and India as a representative of the Utopia Women in the 'Utopia - A picture Story' exhibition. (Tandanya, Adelaide, The Royal Hibernian Academy, Dublin Ireland and the Meat Market Gallery in Melbourne.) In 1991 she had her first solo exhibition at Utopia Art in Sydney. Since then she has exhibited at the National Gallery in Canberra, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Jinta Desert Art in Sydney and the Powerhouse Museum in Sydney. She is also featured extensively in major collections around the world. The National Gallery of Australia, the Robert Holmes a' Court Collection, Museum of Victoria and the Powerhouse Museum. In 1999 Gloria was awarded the prestigious Wynne Prize, an annual exhibition held at the Art Gallery of New South Wales. |
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