Emily Kngwarreye - Yam Dreaming

Yam Dreaming

Kngwarreye particularly featured yam tracks in her works. The yam plant was an important source of food for the Aboriginal people of the desert. She painted many works on this theme; often her first actions at the start of a painting were to put down the yam tracking lines. This plant was especially significant for her: her middle name Kame means the yellow flower of the yam that grows above the ground. She described her paintings as having meaning based on all the aspects of the community's life, including the yam plants. In one of her few well-known statements about her work, she said her paintings mean: Whole lot, that's all, whole lot, awelye, arlatyeye, ankerrthe, ntange, dingo, ankerre, intekwe, anthwerle and kame. That's what I paint: whole lot.

("My dreaming, pencil yam, mountain devil lizard, grass seed, dingo, emu, small plant emu food, green bean and yam seed")