SKU: 87664700334

"Bush Plum" by Polly Ngale

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Description

"Bush Plum" by Polly NgaleDOB: c. 1940 BORN: Utopia, NT LANGUAGE GROUP:: Anmatyerre COMMUNITY:: Utopia, NT Polly Ngale is one of the most senior custodians of her country Alparra, in the heart of Utopia, located in the north west corner of the Simpson desert and roughly 350km northeast of Alice Springs, along the Sandover Highway. Polly belongs to the oldest living generation of Utopia women and her artistic career began in the late 1970s when she, like many of the women in

DOB: c. 1940
BORN: Utopia, NT
LANGUAGE GROUP:: Anmatyerre
COMMUNITY:: Utopia, NT

Polly Ngale is one of the most senior custodians of her country Alparra, in the heart of Utopia, located in the north-west corner of the Simpson desert and roughly 350km northeast of Alice Springs, along the Sandover Highway. Polly belongs to the oldest living generation of Utopia women and her artistic career began in the late 1970s when she, like many of the women in Utopia, began working with silk batik before venturing into works on canvas.

Polly is considered one of the most accomplished painters from the Utopia region and is inspired by the Arnwetky (conkerberry) - a green tangled, spiny shrub that produces fragrant white flowers. After the summer rains, tiny green berries begin to grow and ripen, changing colour over the weeks from light green to pinks and browns to yellow, to shades of red and purple when they finally ripen. The fruits very much resemble a plum and are often referred to in English by Polly as a 'bush plum'. The Arnwetky is a popular variety of bush tucker for the people of Utopia, as well as possessing medicinal properties.

During the Dreamtime, winds came from all directions, carrying the Arnwetky seed all over Polly's ancestors' Anmatyerre land. To ensure the continued fruiting of the Arnwetky, the Anmatyerre people pay homage to the spirit of the bush plum by recreating it in their ceremonies through song and dance, and in recent years, through painting. The patterns in the paintings can represent the fruit of the plant, its leaves and flowers, and also the body paint designs that are associated with it during the ceremony.

Polly shares this country and the Bush Plum (Arnwetky) Dreaming with her sisters Kathleen Ngale and Angeline Pwerle Ngale. Like Kathleen, Polly creates her paintings by building up layer upon layer of colour to create multi-dimensional images. The two have often collaborated and painted together.

Polly's paintings are borne from traditional knowledge and her confident approach to painting can be seen in the way she assembles streams of seeds, piling dots upon each other to create rich thick fields employing glowing palettes of colour. Pollys works range from extremely fine dotting techniques with either interspersed colours or areas of varying colours and depth all blending together across the canvas. Through extensive overdotting, she builds up layers of colour, blending or separate, to give a wealth of different and very attractive paint effects.

Her subject matter is drawn from acute observation and memory. Intimate knowledge of the country, personal history and ancestral journey. Seamless in her portrayal of these elements her paintings are sensory mind maps that reveal the artist's place, and her sense of self all within one framework. Polly's work has been increasingly exhibited since 1999 and in recent years, Polly has undergone a renaissance in her work - by all accounts producing some of the finest paintings of her career to date.

Her work has appeared in the Telstra National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Award since 2003. Her honourable mention as a 2004 finalist was followed by representation at the Contemporary Art Fair in Paris at the Grand Palais Champs Elysees. Polly was also represented in the exhibition Emily Kngwarreye and her Legacy at the Hillside Forum Daikanyama Tokyo in 2008.

Polly's work has been exhibited extensively both in Australia and overseas.

Collections

  • Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide
  • The Holmes a Court Collection, Perth
  • The World Bank, Washington
  • Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney
  • The Holt Collection

Awards and Recognition

2003 20th NATSIAA, Darwin - Finalist


Selected Solo Exhibitions

2019 Poly Ngale - Arnwetky, Kate Owen Gallery, Sydney


Selected Group Exhibitions

  • 2020 Polly Ngale & Kathleen Ngale: Bush Plum Dreaming, Japingka Gallery, Perth
  • 2019 Summer Show & Art Parade, Salt, Queenscliff, VIC
  • 2019 International Women's Day, Kate Owen Gallery, Sydney
  • 2019 Defining Tradition | the colourists, Kate Owen Gallery, Sydney
  • 2018 Painting on Country - Utopia Artists, Japingka Gallery, Perth
  • 2018 Beyond the Veil, Olsen Gruin, New York
  • 2018 Indigenous Australia: Masterworks from the National Gallery of Australia, me Collectors Room, Berlin
  • 2018 Art Paris Art Fair, Arts d'Australie, Stephane Jacob, Grand-Palais, Paris
  • 2015 Sixteen Artists 16 x 2, Japingka Gallery, Perth
  • 2014 Dot Code: Desert Artists, Japingka Gallery, Perth
  • 2014 Parcours des Mondes, Arts d'Australie, Stephane Jacob, Paris
  • 2012 Lineart, Arts d'Australie, Stephane Jacob, Gent, Belgium
  • 2011 Thinking outside the square, Kate Owen Gallery, Sydney
  • 2010 Stories from the Centre, Kate Owen Gallery, Sydney
  • 2010 Parcours des Mondes, Arts d'Australie, Stephane Jacob, Paris
  • 2010 Parcours Nomad's en Australie, Arts d'Australie, Stephane Jacob, Paris
  • 2010 Spring, Kate Owen Gallery, Sydney
  • 2009 JGM Gallery, London
  • 2009 Size Matters, Kate Owen Gallery, Sydney, NSW
  • 2009 Utopia - Bush Plum & Other delicacies, Honey Ant Gallery, Noosa
  • 2008 Emily Kame Kngwarreye and her Legacy: Visions of Utopia that Penetrate the Soul of the Eastern Desert, Art Front Gallery Hillside Forum, Tokyo
  • 2008 Utopia Revisited, NG Art Gallery, Sydney
  • 2008 Dreamings the Land, Outback Aboriginal Art, Caulfield, VIC
  • 2009 Utopia - Bush Plum & Other delicacies, Honey Ant Gallery, Noosa
  • 2007 Arts d'Australie, Stephane Jacob, Paris
  • 2007 Journeys and Dreams, Gecko Gallery, Broome
  • 2007 Visions of Utopia, Coo-ee Aboriginal Art, Sydney
  • 2007 Journeys and Dreams, Gecko Gallery, Broome
  • 2005 Neville Keating Gallery, London
  • 2003 Telstra Art Award, Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory, Darwin
  • 2002 Two Sisters: Kathleen and Polly Ngale, Lauraine Diggins Fine Art, Melbourne.
  • 2000 Arts d'Australie Stephane Jacob / Espace Mezzo - Avenue des Champs-Elysees, Paris
  • 1992 Modern Art Ancient Icon, The World Bank, Washington
  • 1990 Utopia A Picture Story, batik from the Holmes A Court Collection by Utopia artists which toured Ireland and Scotland
  • 1990 Art of the Eastern Desert, Eastern Desert Art, Brisbane
  • 1989 Utopia Women's Paintings, A Summer Project, S.H. Ervin Gallery Sydney
  • 1989 Aboriginal Art from Utopia, Gallery Gabrielle Pizzi, Melbourne

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SKU: 87664700334

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Emily Heater
Boise, US
★★★★★ 5
Awesome product!!!
Size: 3 Panel-102"W, Color: Beige, Size: 3 Panel-102"W, Color: Beige
This thing is really awesome. I actually bought 2 of them and made myself a nice little enclosure to keep out any peeping Toms while I’m trying to work on my summer tan. What I was looking for is FULL privacy and this DEFINITELY provides that. Fabric is completely opaque, you cannot see anything through it which is exactly what I needed. Another huge bonus is the strips of fabric to cover the spaces in between the panels, giving TRUE privacy. This is a really well-made product, great design, great structure, and pretty easy to put together overall. The only downside is that with strong gusts of wind, it wants to tip over so as you can see I secured the bottom feet with a couple bricks to make it stable and that did the trick. But to me that is a minor inconvenience given all its other great aspects. So many other privacy dividers were still see-through… totally defeating the purpose. But this one is absolutely full privacy and PERFECT for what I needed it for!!!
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Reviewed in the United States on May 4, 2024
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MJL06
Fort Morgan, US
★★★★★ 5
Nice temporary divider or screen
Fairly easy to assemble and ensures privacy.
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Reviewed in the United States on March 21, 2026
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extrasupervery
Charlottesville, US
★★★★★ 1
Broke within an hour of assembly.
Size: 6 Panel-120"W, Color: Beige
This is of horrible quality. Within an hour of building, the feet support were broken on both ends, where they spin in place & do not stay straight to hold the divider up. Pieces of the plastic on the feet were broken simply from assembling the product. The covers for the metal poles were the only reason I bought this divider instead of other similar products, however those only cover one side of the metal poles so they are still visible from the other side. Two of these covers were also torn & not useable within an hour of assembly, one was already partially ripped on arrival & the other one was ripped simply during assembly of the product. I do not recommend this item & would have returned if I was still in the return window. I missed the return window because the product was bought during the holidays & I didn’t have time to mess with the return. I have not been able to use this product even once, the broken feet which do not stay in place make it very unstable & dangerous.
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Reviewed in the United States on February 4, 2026
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alena
Grantham, US
★★★★★ 5
WOULD BUY AGAIN.
EASY TO PUT TOGETHER. WORKS EXATCLY AS i NEEDED. I USED ONLY 3 PANELS.
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Reviewed in the United States on April 29, 2026
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T
San Leandro, US
★★★★★ 5
Nice quality, looks brand new even with daily use! Worth it!
Size: 6 Panel, Color: White
I got the Rose Home 6 panel room divider folding privacy screen and I LOVE it. I use it every day - extending it out to both block the sun, provide a backdrop for my plant wall, use as a backdrop for zoom calls, create privacy at night in front of the big windows and clear doors, and make impromptu study privacy walls in the office. This 6-panel has been the GOAT! Even though the screen is made of a woven paper material, it is still going strong despite daily use and has NOT broken anywhere. The frame is taller than other folding screens I've purchased and this one is also heavier and sturdy. Additionally the hinges fold open in BOTH directions (some screens only fold open in 1 direction like a Z). I use the folding screens indoors, but they have no issue with the AC or fans for wind resistance indoors. Sometimes I use them to hide storage or junk in the corner and make the room look neater. I also have a different brand that is the same material but has 8 panels and I love them both. I got 2 others that were made from synthetic canvas webbing belt/leash fabric and those break so fast - I just had to throw 1 away. This one is worth the money, even after daily use, it looks brand new!
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Reviewed in the United States on January 7, 2026

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