Charmaine Pwerle

DOB: 1975
BORN: Alice Springs, NT
LANGUAGE GROUP: Anmatyerre
COMMUNITY: Utopia, NT

Charmaine Pwerle is the daughter of Barbara Weir and the granddaughter of the renowned artist the late Minnie Pwerle.  She was born in Utopia and stayed there until she was seven, when she was sent to Adelaide to improve her education.  She remained there until she was 10, spending one year in Utopia before attending St Phillips College in Alice Springs.  She completed high school in Alice Springs and returned to Utopia for a few years; she then moved back to Adelaide to study.

In 1992, Charmaine returned to Utopia and worked for Urapuntja Council as a junior administration assistant while living with her mother, Barbara Weir and Grandmother, Minnie Pwerle and Motorcar Jim at Soakage Bore – an outstation on what used to be Utopia Station.  She lives in Alice Springs with her partner, 4 daughters and one stepdaughter.

Dreamings:
My Grandmother’s Country:
Minnie Pwerle came from a region called Atnwengerrp at Utopia, and it is this country that Charmaine depicts in her paintings.
Charmaine’s main inspirations are the Atnwengerrp area and Awelye (women’s ceremonies and body paint).

Awelye:
The women paint each other’s breasts and upper bodies with ochre markings before dancing in a ceremony. The body designs are important and, painted on the chest and shoulders, relate to each woman’s dream. The ochre pigment is ground into powder form and mixed with charcoal and ash before being applied with a flat padded stick or with fingers in raw linear and curving patterns. The circles in these designs represent the sites and movements where the ceremonies occur.

Atnwengerrp Country:
The lines in the painting depict the tracks that her people made as they trekked across the country in search of food and dry river beds. The large semi-circular shapes represent the sandhills and valleys. The dark colour represents the path of a fire that has swept across the land.