Awelye 1999 by Gracie Morton 40x40cm 4038GM

Awelye (1999) by Gracie Morton Pwerle is a women's ceremonial painting that translates body-painting designs into a dynamic visual language on canvas. The work draws directly from awelye —the sacred designs painted onto women’s bodies during ceremony—where singing, dancing and rhythmic movement activate ancestral knowledge and connection to Country.

The linear structures that course through the composition echo the painted markings traditionally applied to the breasts, shoulders, upper back and thighs. These parallel horizontal and vertical lines are not decorative; they are expressions of law, identity and continuity, carried on the body and renewed through ceremony.

The subject of the painting is the Bush Plum Dreaming, one of the major Dreamings of the Utopia region. The bush plum—sometimes described as a native currant—grows on a tall, slender tree with broad leaves, its fruit ripening from green to deep black in clustered abundance. As both sustenance and symbol, it is inseparable from women’s knowledge, seasonal cycles and ceremonial responsibility.

Gracie Morton Pwerle was a senior custodian of this Dreaming, with responsibility passed to her through her father and aunt in accordance with traditional law ( Altyerre ). Through her painting, she preserves and activates this inheritance, ensuring that the stories, songs and designs of Bush Plum Country continue to live beyond the ceremonial ground.

Belonging to the Alyawarre language group, Gracie’s work embodies a profound connection to land, law and women’s authority. Known under several spellings of her surname—Pwerle, Pwerl, Purle or Ngale—her paintings stand as enduring expressions of cultural continuity, where ancestral knowledge is made visible, rhythmic and alive.