Bush Melon, 2003

120 x 120 cm

Est. $8,000 – $10,000

Hammer $6,000

Provenance: Mbantua Gallery, NT, Cat No. MB18979 Private Collection, NSW
Artwork story: Minnie Pwerle, began painting late in life, yet the impact of her colourful haptic works amongst collectors was immediate and electric. Her painting style was instinctual and exuberant with its rounded forms tumbling across the painted surface in vivid colour evoking a loose, pulsing rhythm. The Bush Melon, a key women's Dreaming from her country, Atnwengerrp, signifies more than sustenance - it embodies fertility, nourishment, and women's custodial ties to land and kin. Minnie's expressive freedom and raw physicality quickly placed her alongside Emily Kame Kngwarreye in critical discourse during her lifetime. For collectors, her work is both visually striking and historically significant - capturing a late-emerging but enduring voice in the canon of Australian Aboriginal art.

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Sale 1 · Lot 9

c.1920 – 2006

120 x 120 cm

Est. $8,000 – $10,000

Hammer $6,000

Provenance: Mbantua Gallery, NT, Cat No. MB18979 Private Collection, NSW
Artwork story: Minnie Pwerle, began painting late in life, yet the impact of her colourful haptic works amongst collectors was immediate and electric. Her painting style was instinctual and exuberant with its rounded forms tumbling across the painted surface in vivid colour evoking a loose, pulsing rhythm. The Bush Melon, a key women's Dreaming from her country, Atnwengerrp, signifies more than sustenance - it embodies fertility, nourishment, and women's custodial ties to land and kin. Minnie's expressive freedom and raw physicality quickly placed her alongside Emily Kame Kngwarreye in critical discourse during her lifetime. For collectors, her work is both visually striking and historically significant - capturing a late-emerging but enduring voice in the canon of Australian Aboriginal art.