Kathleen Ngale

Kathleen began her art career in the late 1970s in the medium of batik with over eighty other women from the Utopia Region in Central Australia. Her work in batik is featured in Utopia A Picture Story.

When the acrylics on canvas movement swept Utopia in the late 1980s, Kathleen like the other women swiftly changed mediums. Kathleen's popularity as an artist grew in the early 00s, for her simplistic "Bush Plum" paintings. Her work has been exhibited around the globe and is also featured frequently in Aboriginal Art Auctions.

Kathleen loved to paint and talk about her work. Though she did not speak much English, she continually tried to teach the wider world about her paintings and the Anwekety that features in them.

Kathleen refers to the Anwekety as Bush Plum, which in fact are small black conkerberries that grow on the plant after good rain.

Kathleen continued to live with her extended family in the Utopia Region until her passing in 2021. She is sadly missed.