Gloria Petyarre

Who is Gloria Petyarre?

Gloria Petyarre is an Australian Aboriginal artist from the Anmatyerre community, just north of Alice Springs. In 1999, the Australian magazine Art Collector called her "one of our most collectable indigenous artists".

Petyarre won the Wynne Prize in 1999 with Leaves, being the first Aboriginal person to win one of the Art Gallery of New South Wales's major prizes. She traveled to Ireland, England and India in 1990 as part of the Utopia – A picture story exhibition. She held her first solo exhibition in 1991. She is represented in Australian galleries such as the National Gallery of Australia. She is the niece of Emily Kngwarreye and the younger sister of Kathleen Petyarre, who are also artists.

Petyarre lived at the Utopia community after 1977, where she started batik painting, exhibiting in shows around Australia for ten years. She began work on the 'Summer Project' in 1989 which involved translating the batik paintings onto canvas. She was one of the founding members of this Utopia Women's Batik Group. She paints several Dreamtime stories such as Pencil Yam, Bean, Emu and Mountain Devil Lizard and Small Brown Grass. Her paintings – monochromatic or multi-colored - have well defined segments filled with curved lines. Her style is known for its abstract fields and bright colors. Her work is represented in such collections as: