KUDDITJI KNGWARREYE

Kudditji Kngwarreye (c.1928–2017) was a highly respected Anmatyerre artist and Elder from Alhalkere in the Utopia region, north-east of Alice Springs. The younger brother of celebrated painter Emily Kame Kngwarreye, Kudditji was the senior custodian of the Emu Dreaming sites (Ankerre) on his Country and a key holder of men’s ceremonial Law.

Beginning his artistic career in the mid-1980s, Kudditji developed a distinctive painting style that conveyed the vastness, light, and spiritual energy of his homelands. Using a heavily loaded brush and broad fields of radiant colour, he expressed the shifting moods of Country, from the heat and dust of summer to the cool tones of the rainy season, evoking its deep cultural and ceremonial significance.

Kudditji’s works are held in major national and international collections and are recognised for their powerful presence and emotional resonance. Through his art, he captured both the physical beauty and the ancestral essence of Anmatyerre Country, ensuring his enduring legacy as one of Australia’s most important desert painters.