Emily Kam Kngwarray: Anwerlarr anganenty (Big Yam Dreaming) 1995

Emily Kam Kngwarray’s monumental artwork Big Yam Dreaming represents a central aspect of her cultural heritage.

The network of bold white lines on black, derived from women’s striped body paintings, suggests the roots of the pencil yam spreading beneath the ground — and the cracks in the ground created as it ripens.

Kngwarray’s country, Alhalker, is an important Anwerlarr (Pencil Yam) Dreaming site, the staple from which she takes her bush name, Kam (yam seed).

We’ll look at Aboriginal agriculture and land management, and the significance of yams – as food and cultural icon, in places as far-flung as Tonga and Central Australia.

Judith Ryan, senior curator of Indigenous Art at NGV, will talk about the artwork and place it in context.

Matt Preston, Masterchef’s resident food critic, will talk about true yams, finger yams, and the cultural importance of the yam in cultures such as Tonga and West Africa.

Indigenous writer Bruce Pascoe will talk about Aboriginal agriculture and land management.

Wurundjeri artist Mandy Nicholson will speak on the role of women in Aboriginal society, then and now.

Artist Clinton Nain will speak.

And author Ellen van Neerven will respond creatively to the work.

Australian Art Starting Conversations

Certain timeless works of art make us see the world differently. By experiencing famous paintings or sculptures, we can form an idea of what life was like when they were created.

But how much can iconic art teach us about the world today? Taking four historical works as a starting point, our guests make a series of lateral leaps to explore the diversity of the modern world through the prism of classic art.

After a curator from the National Gallery of Victoria places the work in context, five different speakers will explore the tangents that arise, leading the discussion surrounding the piece in new and unexpected directions. The evening concludes with a creative response directly inspired by the artwork itself.

In this instalment hosted by Michael Williams, guests – including food journalist and television personality Matt Preston, artists Mandy Nicholson and Clinton Nain, authors Bruce Pascoe and Ellen van Neerven, and the NGV’s senior curator of Indigenous Art, Judith Ryan – will present ideas, stories and observations inspired by Emily Kam Kngwarray’s Anwerlarr anganenty (Big Yam Dreaming).

Please enter through the North entrance, via Arts Centre Melbourne forecourt.

Presented by the Wheeler Centre and the NGV.