Kathleen Kemarre Wallace

Wallace was born in a remote area of Central Australia and her family kept her away from stations and missions to prevent her removal under the Aboriginals Ordinance 1918 Act.[2] When she was 13. her family was forced to move to Santa Teresa Mission, now Ltyentye Apurte Community. This move was caused by severe drought and the interruption of traditional hunting and food gathering by encroaching station activities.[3]

Wallace has lived on her homelands her whole life and she has always viewed it as her responsibility to ensure traditional knowledge is handed on; especially through art and storytelling.

In 1989 she was a founding member of Keringke Arts and, since then, has become one of their most successful artists and her work is represented in many national and international collections.[3]

Her artworks are very influenced by her catholic faith and she says:

When I went to Santa Teresa, nuns taught me the Bible. When I came to Santa Teresa I couldn't speak English — I learned it there," she said. Catholicism and my family's traditional beliefs] are similar — it wasn't hard for me. My grandfather's ancestors gave him a dream of three circles — grandfather, father and totem spirit — like the Holy Trinity.

— Kathleen Kemarre Wallace[4]

In October 2019 the stained glass window that Wallace designed was installed at the Our Lady of Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Alice Springs which is celebrated for showing the blending of Catholic and Indigenous beliefs.[2] The title of the painting, which became the stained glass is Urtakwerte Atywerrenge Anthurre or, in English, Very Sacred Heart and it depicts the Virgin Mary and Jesus standing on a sandhill and different parts of the painting representing different aspects of her blended faith.[5] She also was a senior advisor on the Indigemoji app launched in 2019.[6] This app provides 90 emojis representing central Australia's Indigenous Arrernte culture and is Australia’s first set of Indigenous emojis.[7][8]

In addition to being an artist Wallace has worked as a teacher and served her community as an elected councillor for Ltyentye Apurte as well as being a member of the executive committee of Desart.[1]

Wallace and her husband Douglas had no children of their own but they have raised more than 30 children throughout their marriage; taking in children when they were neglected or their parents were drinking. This earned her the nickname "Mum".[1][3]

• Wallace Kathleen Kemarre with Davis, Jane (1986), Plants of the Santa Teresa region of Central Australia
• Wallace Kathleen Kemarre with Lovell, Judy (2009), Listen deeply : let these stories in, IAD Press, ISBN 9781864650945
• Indigemoji (2019) App and website