About

In 1977, a group of Alyawarr and Anmatyerr Aboriginal women from the Utopia region in the Northern Territory of Australia were taught the techniques for making batik fabric in a series of government-sponsored workshops.

The following year, the Utopia Women’s Batik Group was formed. Many of its original members, including the inimitable Emily Kam Kngwarrey and the Petyarre sisters, Gloria and Ada, are now considered to be amongst the most important Australian artists of the 20th century.

These first batik workshops and exhibitions of the late 1970s and 80s inspired the careers of Aboriginal women artists across the Central Desert who, up until this time, had been known to assist men in the completion of their paintings, but were rarely permitted to paint independently.

The process of batik-making created an unprecedented opportunity for the Utopia women to visually portray their own connection to country, moving their knowledge from sand and body to silk and canvas.

The Utopia Women’s Batik Group had a profound impact on the local community. The money they were able to raise through the sales of their early designs provided them with the funds to launch a successful claim for Alyawarr and Anmatyerr freehold title over the Utopia Pastoral Lease in 1979. This returned the ownership of the land to its traditional inhabitants.

Rebecca Hossack was the first international champion of the women artists of Utopia. Emily Kam Kngwarrey, whose work will be the subject of a major retrospective at Tate Modern this year, had her first solo exhibition at the Rebecca Hossack Art Gallery in 1993.

Join Rebecca Hossack for a discussion of this rich and distinctive visual culture. Amidst the sharing of personal stories and art historical ideas, the evening presents a unique opportunity to examine rare paintings and batiks produced by these pioneering female artists of Utopia.