Recorded as E013 in the Delmore Gallery index of works, Untitled (Alalgura/Emu Dreaming) was the second of eight paintings by Emily Kngwarray produced at Delmore Downs Station in December 1989. One month later, towards the end of January 1990, the painting was consigned for sale at Coventry Gallery in Sydney.

A significant early work, Emu Dreaming, 1989, conveys the artist’s custodial responsibility for the Yam and the Emu, reflecting Kngwarray’s connection to country and Women’s ceremonies through body painting and dance. Here the tracery of grey and milky white lines signifies the meandering roots of the yam below the earth with the tracks of the traveling emu above moving between nesting sites. The underlying linear pattern is submerged by in a profusion of overlapping dots painted in a limited palette of ochres (red, yellow and white), together with soft blues and pinks. Fundamentally, this work depicts the relationship between the emu and country. Beneath the soil the bush yam is ready for digging, while above, there is a flurry of movement as the male emu moves across the landscape feeding on various seeds, simultaneously shepherding his chicks into areas where the yam thrives.

This is the country that fattens the Emu, a most highly sought source of energy and protein in traditional times. This is where the Emu Dreaming came to and travelled from. This was an important historical ceremony triggered by the nature and timing of the season provoking Emily’s memory and lasting emotions. Emily’s fantastic broad range of red, yellow and purple represents the most important custodianship, the Anooralya (finger yam) and nterkwe (bush plum).These hardy and fertile plants provide both a tuber vegetable, and a se-bearing flower called Kame (Emily’s tribal name). Other colours reflect the time of season when bush flowers flourish.

Please note that all First Nations Art is created from a so called ‘Birds Eye’ view. This means that the paintings can be hung either horizontally as well as vertically.