2. (1995) Anmatyerre language group, Alhalkere, Central Desert, Australia
Synthetic polymer paint on canvas, x 801.9cm.

3. Emily Kame Nwarreye c. 1910-1996 Anmatyerre language group, Alhalkere, Central Desert, Australia
Big Yam Dreaming (1995)
Synthetic polymer paint on canvas, x 801.9cm.

4. Emily Kame Nwarreye c. 1910-1996 Anmatyerre language group, Alhalkere, Central Desert, Australia
Big Yam Dreaming (1995)
Synthetic polymer paint on canvas, x 801.9cm.

5. Emily Kame Nwarreye c. 1910-1996 Anmatyerre language group, Alhalkere, Central Desert, Australia
Big Yam Dreaming (1995)
Synthetic polymer paint on canvas, x 801.9cm.

6. The Frames The subjective frame The structural frame
The cultural frame
The postmodern frame
NSW BOSTES syllabus

7. Subjective Frame Big Yam Dreaming (1995)
Emily Kame Nwarreye c Anmatyerre language group, Alhalkere, Central Desert, Australia
Big Yam Dreaming (1995)
Synthetic polymer paint on canvas, x 801.9cm.

8. Emily Kame Ngwarray c. 1910-1996 Anmatyerre language group, Alhalkere, Central Desert

9. The bush yam is a principal food source (bush tucker) gathered by the Aboriginal women in regions of Central Australia.
In ceremony the women pay homage to the spirit of the yam plant to ensure perpetual germination
It has a radish-shaped tuber, which is renewed each year. In the spring the plant forms a yellow flower-head like a dandelion, and in the summer the leaves die off and the tuber becomes dormant. The tubers were cooked in baskets in an earth oven, producing a dark sweet juice which was much liked.

10. Structural Frame
Teacher will need to clarify the use of the word ‘abstract’ or ‘semi abstract’ esp as it relates to western interpretations of art, rather than Aboriginal art practice
How can we analyse Ngwarreye’s work from the structural frame?
Make a list of the key words you would use.
Write a paragraph using 5 of the structural frame key words that have been listed. Use evidence from the artwork to support your paragraph.
Watch this footage of Big Yam Dreaming being painted and installed

11. Cultural Frame
How can we analyse Ngwarreye’s work from the cultural frame?
What do we already know about Aboriginal culture?
How does this work reflect gender roles in traditional Aboriginal culture?
How does this work reflect knowledge of a particular place?
How is her work work reminiscent of western art movements?

12. Jackson Pollock (American, 1912-1956)
Autumn Rhythm (Number 30), 1950 Enamel on canvas; 105 x 207 in. (266.7 x cm)
Ngwarreye’s work has been compared to that of the Abstract Expressionists, like Jackson Pollock?
What similarities can you see? How does the cultural context make these works quite different?

13. Some keywords for the Cultural Frame for this work:
Anmatyerr country: Anmatyerr is Ngwarray’s language group
Altyerre: a Central Desert term for the ‘Dreaming’, also known in the Central Desert as Tjukurrpa
Awelye: an all encompassing Anmatyerr word that refers to women’s ceremony (including body painting designs) which are performed to care for country
Utopia: a community of Aboriginal people living about 200 kms NE of Alice Springs

14. Quotes by the artist can also be helpful in writing about the cultural frame:
‘...whole lot, that’s whole lot, Awelye (my Dreaming), Arlatyerre (pencil yam), Arkerrthe (mountain devil lizard), Ntange (grass seed), Tingu (a Dreamtime pup), Ankerre (emu), Intekwe (a small plant that is a favourite food of emus), Atnwele (green bean), and Kame (yam seed). That’s what I paint: whole lot....’
Ngawarray, 1998
How does this quote help us understand Ngwarray’s work from the cultural frame?
Write a paragraph about Big Yam Dreaming using the Cultural frame.

15. STRUCTURAL and CULTURAL frame analysis
The organic tracery of interconnecting lines seen in Big Yam Dreaming (1995), bear a resemblance to the crazed pattern of cracked earth on the surface of the ground where the yam vine grows, and mirrors the network of arterial roots reaching deep for water in the dry desert sands. The pencil yam is an edible tuber that grows beneath the ground and is visible above ground as a creeper. Although the presence of the yam is evident in the lines that define its roots, these lines also symbolise the ancestral connections that have been passed down through the Dreaming.
Ngwarray’s profound identification with Kame, the Yam story, which is also part of her name, expresses itself in this exuberant painting. At one level the curvilinear structures that animate the work evoke the meandering tendrils of the yam that grow on her Country of Alhalkere and her ancestor of the same name — a recurring theme in her work. This powerful composition with it’s overlapping and layering, depth and sheer scale was executed in the last year of Ngwarray’s life. Like a number of other Aboriginal artists, she painted on black rather than the usual white canvases. The black surface replicates the familiar surface of black skin upon which the artists engage in body painting.