Biography

(1972–Present) Abie Loy Kemarre is an Eastern Anmatyerre artist from Iylenty, also known as Mosquito Bore, in the Utopia region of the Northern Territory. Born at Utopia in 1972, she is the eldest of five children and comes from a significant family of artists. Her mother is Margaret Loy Pula, her aunt is Gloria Petyarre, and she began painting under the guidance of her grandmother Kathleen Petyarre when she was around 19. Over more than three decades, Abie has developed a distinctive practice grounded in her Country and inherited cultural knowledge. Dreaming & Country: Bush Hen and Bush Medicine Leaves Abie’s principal subjects include Bush Hen Dreaming and Bush Medicine Leaves, alongside Awelye, body-paint designs and sandhill imagery. She was entrusted with custodial rights to paint the Bush Hen story by her grandfather. The story follows the bush hen as it travels across Country in search of seeds and other food, connecting the bird’s movement with the landscape and its resources. Her Bush Medicine Leaves paintings relate to a plant associated with women’s knowledge and ceremony, represented through repeated leaf forms rather than a literal depiction of Country. Style and Technique Abie works primarily in acrylic on canvas, building her compositions through fine dotting, repeated lines and densely layered motifs. In her Bush Medicine Leaves paintings, individual marks overlap and flow across the surface, creating a strong sense of movement and optical depth. Other works use broader bands, curved forms and linear structures derived from body-paint designs and ceremonial imagery. Although her technique developed through the influence of Kathleen Petyarre, Abie has established her own visual language through changes in scale, rhythm and the density of her mark-making. Abie’s Palette Abie’s palette varies considerably across her practice. Some paintings use restrained combinations of white, black, ochre and earthy brown, placing emphasis on pattern and movement. Others introduce stronger reds, greens, blues, purples and pinks. Colour is often layered or alternated across repeated marks, allowing areas to advance and recede while maintaining the underlying structure of the composition. For the Collector Abie has exhibited for more than 30 years and was selected as a finalist in the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Awards in 1997 and 2001. Her work is held in Australian and international public collections, including the National Gallery of Victoria, the Art Gallery of South Australia and The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. Her career reflects both the continuity of painting at Utopia and the individual approach she has developed within that broader tradition.