Kudditji Kngwarreye (Alyawarre) (circa 1928-2017) Mon pays / My Country 2010 Acrylic on Belgian linen signed on the back 122 x 90 cm Provenance: > Commissioned by Gary Conwell of RedOchre (Alice Springs) > Private collection, Île-de-France A certificate will be given with the work. Kudditji was born at Alhalkere in the Northern Territories, 280 kilometres north-west of Alice Springs, in the year of the Coniston Massacre. His tribe left the area to escape all the troubles associated with the massacre. He is the brother of Emily Kngwarreye (under Aboriginal law, not biologically). His ancestral totem is the emu. He is the main keeper of the emu dream. He worked as a herdsman and then in the mines. He began painting in the mid-80s with other men from Utopia. His early work was very meticulous, with very clean round patches. His paintings illustrated the dream of the emu but on special occasions he produced more abstract paintings in the line of Emily. Kudditji is one of the few Australian Aboriginal painters to have produced both dream paintings with very meticulous representations and then, like Emily, to have developed a very contemporary abstract style. His inspiration is identical to that of his sister Emily. He paints the secret emotions that his country, its laws and its cultures make him feel. His painting is made up of blocks of colour representing his region of Utopia. The colours represent the ochres used in the ceremonies and the general appearance of the landscape. It is an expression of her 'aboriginality' and the secrets associated with it that cannot be divulged to the uninitiated. These secrets are revealed during ceremonies, when the painting is used as a representation of the country, supporting secret stories told verbally. MJ