Minnie Pwerle (between 1910 and 1922 – 2006) was an Australian Aboriginal artist. She came from Utopia, Northern Territory, a cattle station in an area of Central Australia 300 kilometres (190 mi) northeast of Alice Springs known as the Sandover. Minnie began painting in 2000, and her pictures soon became popular and sought-after works of contemporary Indigenous Australian art. In the years after she took up painting on canvas, until she died in 2006, Minnie's works were exhibited around Australia and collected by major galleries, including the Art Gallery of New South Wales, the National Gallery of Victoria and the Queensland Art Gallery. With popularity came pressure from those keen to acquire her work. She was allegedly "kidnapped" by people who wanted her to paint for them, and there have been media reports of her work being forged. Minnie's work is often compared with that of her sister-in-law Emily Kame Kngwarreye, who also came from the Sandover and took up acrylic painting late in life. Minnie's daughter, Barbara Weir, is a respected artist in her own right. (more...)
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