Denisa Hatches Ngale

February 4, 2020

Denisa Hatches Ngale

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Artist Profile · Northern Territory

Denisa Hatches Ngale

Emerging Utopia artist painting the Anwekety (Bush Plum) story taught by her grandmother.

Born

1992

Language group

Alyawarr and Anmatyerre

Country

Camel Camp, Utopia region, north-east of Alice Springs, NT

Painting since

2017

Learning from her grandmother

Denisa Hatches Ngale is the granddaughter of the respected Utopia artist Kathleen Ngale and of Motorbike Paddy, who passed on the Anwekety story. As a young woman she went along on her grandmother’s painting projects, helping to mix paints and prime canvases.

Watching Kathleen paint and listening to her stories about the bush plum and its importance to her people, Denisa learned both the story and the technique. She began painting in her own right in 2017, carrying on the strong artistic tradition of her family.

Her work

Denisa paints Anwekety, the Anmatyerre name for the conkerberry, whose plum-like fruit is often called bush plum in English. In the Dreaming, winds carried the first seed across her ancestors’ land; it grew, fruited and dropped more seeds, which the winds spread across the Dreaming lands. She also paints bush tucker and water stories from her Country.

Anwekety (Bush Plum) Dreaming
Bush tucker
Water stories

Exhibited at the Prairie Hotel, Parachilna (SA), and Without Pier Gallery, Melbourne.

Related artists

Denisa’s grandmother’s family is one of Utopia’s great Bush Plum dynasties. Kathleen Ngale’s daughter Elizabeth Mpetyane and sister Angelina Pwerle paint the same story, as do Kathleen’s nieces Bessie Petyarre and Josie Kunoth Petyarre.

Buying Denisa’s work

For authenticated paintings, buy through a recognised gallery such as Mbantua Gallery or Eastern Desert Art, and always ask for a certificate of authenticity.