yam

Last week I tried unsuccessfully to bid on a couple of aboriginal paintings at auction that went well above the estimate.

While in hospital on Tuesday, I finally succeeded in getting one by the same artist at a different auction. Her name is Emily Kngwarreye. In the final 8 years of her life, Kngwarreye produce a flourish of art that propelled her into the status as one of Australia's greatest contemporary artists.

The work I bought was painted in the year before her death, when her artistic style shifted from dots to lines, which represent the roots of an important food source – the pencil yam.

Here is an image of my painting.

And here is the monumental Big Yam Dreaming, which measures almost 3 x 8 meters, owned by the National Gallery of Victoria.