In the heart of the continent, Central and Western Desert painting dates back thousands of years. Traditionally, designs were made on utilitarian objects, rock shelters, on the body and the ground for ceremony. In 1971, high school teacher Geoffrey Bardon met with community elders and supported them to paint a large mural at the local school. The painting proved to be a significant moment in the recognition of Aboriginal art and was the catalyst for the contemporary Indigenous Australian art movement. In the 1980s, a group of Anmatyerre women from Utopia, north-east of Alice Springs, began painting works that often combined traditional body painting designs with vivid colours and a fluid, painterly approach; the ‘Utopia Panels’ by Emily Kame Kngwarreye – the best-known artist of this group – are exemplary of this style.
