Gracie
Pwerl
Morton
Born: c.1956
Region: Utopia, (Eastern Desert)
Language Group: Alyawarre
Gracie Pwerl Morton began her career as an
batik artist in the 1970's with the Utopia Women's Batik Group before
transferring her designs onto canvas in the late 1980's. In the works of
Gracie Pwerl Morton one can readily see that the great strength and
dynamism of the Utopian women artists that continues across the
generations. Gracie's delicate dotting and colour variation uses an
aerial perspective to portray the seasonal changes of the Amwekety - the
Bush Plum, a plant of great significance to the women of Gracie's
traditional country, Mosquito Bore.
The finesse of Gracie's style creates a
wonderful lyricism in her works. An Alyawarre woman from Utopia Station,
approximately 250km north-east of Alice Springs, Gracie's works are
represented in major private collections such as The Robert Holmes a
Court Collection in Western Australia. She exhibits regularly in
Australia, more recently in a solo show titled 'Mosquito Bore - The Art
of the Minimalist' at Ancient Earth Indigenous Art Gallery in Cairns and
in a group exhibition at the Alliance Francaise de Canberra and French
Embassy in Canberra.
Gracie Pwerl Morton - Bush Plum
The delightfully subtle paintings of the
Amwekety - the Bush Plum, depict the changing seasonal influences on
a plant that is of the greatest significance to the Alyawrre women of
the Eastern Desert region of the Northern Territory.
Gracie Pwerl Morton is one of the senior
traditional custodian for both the Altyerre (Dreaming) and the
vast expanse of related country, some 263kms north of
Alice Springs, Australia. In accordance to traditional law the
responsibility for the Bush Plum Dreaming has been passed down to Gracie
from her father and her aunt, who are responsible for ensuring that she
perseveres its traditions.
The Bush Plum is a highly nutritious small
fruit with black seeds, rich in vitamin C, that can be eaten raw or
cooked. Growing in a great profusion of flower and fruit throughout the
winter months, the women, accompanied by the children collect the Bush
Plums, while at the same time reconfirming their connection to the land.
The flourish of colour that distinguishes the
Bush Plum after the fall of rain, is quickly transformed with the long
hot summer months. Dried and separated, the seed and husk are scatter
over the vast sunbaked landscape by the hot summer winds.
The incredible finesse of Gracie’s style
creates a wonderful lyricism in her works, causing a
three-dimensionality that pulls at the eye guiding the viewer through
the soft, outward-reaching fields of colour, while simultaneously
transfixing one in its undulations
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