Mary Ngala Jones

Artist: Mary Ngala Jones

Skin Name: Ngala

Language Group: Alyawarr

Region: Utopia

Vendor: Utopian Aboriginal Art

Dreaming: Bush Plum (Arnwekety)

Mary Ngala Jones was born into an artistic family. She is daughter of the painter Myrtle Petyarre and niece to Ada Bird Petyarre, Gloria Petyarre, Nancy Petyarre, Kathleen Petyarre, Violet Petyarre and Jean Petyarre. Her sister is Gracie Pwerle Morton. She was born at MacDonald Downs and lives at Thelye, an outstation on Utopia and is married with five children. Now that her children are growing up, Mary has begun to paint and her style is unmistakably similar to that of her mother, aunties and sister.

Her style of painting is distinctively minimalist and she uses a very delicate dotting technique and traditional colours derived from natural ochres. Her signature theme in her paintings is the bush plum known to the Alyawarr as Arnwekety. All of her paintings directly refer to these "Dreamings" and the associated country around Utopia in the eastern central desert of Australia.

Exhibitions:

• 2008 - From the Desert to the Sea, Yurlunggar Art, Brisbane