WHERE? Tate Modern, The Eyal Ofer Galleries, Bankside, London SE1 9TG

WHEN? Now until 11 January 2026

WHY GO? To feel the heat of Australia in London. A woman famed for being at the forefront of Aboriginal art is celebrated in Tate Modern right now for her striking abstract paintings and colourful batik textiles. Amazingly this extraordinary woman didn’t start painting until she was in her seventies, leaving a powerful legacy that translated the spiritual stories of her ancestral country, Alhalker in the Northern Territory. Emily Kam Kngwarray, who died in Alice Springs in 1996 at the age of 86, improvised straight from the heart. She created art intertwined with her daily life initially in batik, earning her the moniker ‘Boss of Batik’, and paintings created with quick‑drying acrylics. Inspired by the geological features of her homeland, Kngwarray interpreted them as patterns through her unique way of repetitive layering. Her most ambitious work, on loan from the National Gallery of Australia, The Alhalker Suite (1993), spread across 22 individual canvases, is a joyful riot of colour transforming the stark white gallery into a hot Australian landscape. This tribute and the accompanying film (online) is heartfelt. It records how she worked in the most impoverished of surroundings. Kngwarray was honoured posthumously the year after her death in 1997 at the Venice Biennale.

IN THE KNOW Want to delve deeper? Check out the two‑day programme of talks, workshops and performances, Together We Emerge: Indigenous Futures, which will explore modes of indigenous transfer, at Tate Modern, 23–24 October. Details online.