Anna Price Petyarre

DOB: 1960
Born: Boundary Bore, Utopia, NT
LANGUAGE GROUP: Anmatyerre
COMMUNITY: Utopia, NT

Anna Price Petyarre, born 1960, is an Anmatyerre woman from the Boundary Bore area of the former Utopia Station, northeast of Alice Springs. Anna is also known as Anna Pitjara, Anna Price, and Anna Price Pitjara. She is the daughter of the late Glory Ngarla (Ngale, or Ngal) and niece to the late Emily Kame Kngwarreye.  Anna began painting in the early 1980s.  Anna initially primarily painted Yam Seed Dreaming in a colourful and intricate expression of the songs and stories associated with her plant totem, the Bush Yam, and its seeds. The Bush Yam has been a staple food and water source for the Anmatyerre people for countless years and the seeds that form and scatter from the plant are ground up to make flour for damper. During ceremony, it is Anna’s duty to pay homage to the yam seeds and give thanks for their abundance and regenerative qualities. By painting to the tempo of a ceremonial song, Anna expresses her connection to her plant totem in a permanent medium.

A versatile and creative artist Anna has changed her painting style radically several times over the last decade and now concentrates on extremely finely dotted works that represent her country and its ceremonial sites at Boundary Bore.

Collections

• Art Bank, Sydney
• Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide
• Powerhouse Museum, Sydney
• Museum & Art Gallery of the Northern Territory, Darwin
• Holmes a Court Gallery and Gallery Collection, Perth
• Art Gallery of Western Australia, Perth
• Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane
• The Kerry Stokes Collection
• Anthropology Art Museum, Perth
• Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney
• Mbantua Gallery Permanent Collection, Alice Springs
• National Gallery of Australia, Canberra
• National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne

Awards and Recognition

1998 15th NATSIAA, Darwin – Finalist

History

Selected Solo Exhibitions

2004 Anna Price, Mbantua Gallery, Alice Springs

Selected Group Exhibitions

2020 Top 20 Exhibition, Art Mob, Hobart
2019 defining tradition | black + white, Kate Owen Gallery, Sydney
2019 International Women’s Day, Kate Owen Gallery, Sydney
2017 Intricate Expressions, Kate Owen Gallery, Sydney
2008 Three Petyarres, Kate Owen Gallery, Sydney
2005 Small Wonders, Mbantua Gallery, Alice Springs
2005 Yam Dreaming – Atnwelarre, Mbantua Gallery, Alice Springs
2004 Mbantua Gallery USA exhibition; Portland, Nashville, Knoxville, Hartford, Greenwich, New York and Philadelphia
2003 Art from the Dreamtime, Portland Art Museum, Portland, Oregon, USA
2003 Mbantua Gallery USA exhibitions: New City Merchants, Knoxville, TN; Art and Soul Gallery, Nashville, TN; The Cove Gallery Portland, OR; Mary’s Woods, Portland, OR
2003 Heart and Soul, Mbantua Gallery, Alice Springs
2002 Galerie Le Temps du Reve, France
2002 Mbantua Gallery USA exhibitions: New City Merchants, Knoxville, TN; Art and Soul Gallery, Nashville, TN; The Cove Gallery Portland, OR; Urban Wine Works, Portland, OR; Mary’s Woods, Portland, OR.
2002 Generations, Japingka Gallery, Fremantle
2002 Hogarth Galleries, Sydney
2002 Glen Eira City Gallery, Melbourne
2001 Painting Country, Tandanya
2001 Japingka Gallery, Fremantle
2001 Raintree Aboriginal Art Gallery, Darwin
2000 Women’s Business, Australian Exhibition Centre, Chicago, USA
2000 Artists of Utopia, Tandanya
2000 DACOU (in association with AMP), Mary Place Gallery, Sydney
1999 Caring for Country – Artists of Utopia, Tandanya
1999 DACOU Gallery, Adelaide
1999 BMG Art, Adelaide
1998 Quadrivium Gallery, Sydney
1997 Sutton Gallery, Melbourne
1997 DACOU Gallery, Adelaide
1996 Utopia Dreaming, Soho Gallery, Sydney