Angelina Pwerle was born c. 1952 at Utopia Station N.T. and is part of the contemporary Indigenous painting movement that began in the region in the late 1980’s. Alongside artists such as Emily Kngwarreye, Ada Bird, Gloria Petyarre and Barbara Weir, Angelina Pwerle initially worked in batik taught to the women of the community by Toly Sawenko and Jenny Green, before acrylic paints and canvas were introduced.

Although originally intended to facilitate an income for the community during their battle for permanent legal title to their land at Utopia, the Batik Project was highly successful and resulted in a major exhibition at the 1981 Adelaide Art Festival, Floating Forests of Silk: Utopia Batik from the desert. In 1988 CAAMA (The Central Australian Aboriginal Media Association) commissioned a number of batiks by the women at Utopia, and the eighty-eight presented formed the opening exhibition at Tandanya Aboriginal Cultural Institute in Adelaide. After touring to Ireland, the exhibition was purchased in its entirety by the Robert Holmes a Court Collection.

Angelina Pwerle’s main title is Bush Plum Dreaming where clusters of tiny dots are arranged on the surface in an array of bold colours, creating a sense of vibrant energy and movement which captures the viewer. With this series of paintings Angelina Pwerle has found national and international prominence. Her paintings have been collected by the Holmes a Court Collection, Perth, National Gallery of Australia, Canberra, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide, Latrobe University Collection, Melbourne, Allen, Allen and Hemsley Collection, Sydney, Artbank, Sydney, Commonwealth Law Courts, Melbourne, Kerry Stokes Collection, Perth, and the National Museum of Art, Osaka, Japan.

Angelina Pwerle has also been part of numerous group exhibitions both in Australia and overseas. These include: Melbourne Art Fair 2004 & 2002, Indecorous Abstraction: Contemporary Women Painters, Light Square Gallery 2002, Adelaide, Royal Exhibition Building, Melbourne, Spirituality and Australian Aboriginal Art 2001, Madrid and touring regional Spain, Blue Chip II: The Collectors’ Exhibition, Niagara Galleries 1999, Melbourne, This Land, Utopia Art 1994, Sydney, The Oval Board Collection, Bishop Museum, Hawaii, Wadsworth Athenaeum, Connecticut, USA, Tampa Museum of Art, Florida, USA, Utopia Women, Museum of Contemporary Art 1993, Sydney, 1992 Bubbles, Baubles & Beads, Utopia Art, Sydney, Aboriginal Painting, Austral Gallery, St. Louis, USA, Utopia Batik, Araluen Centre for Arts & Entertainment, Alice Springs, exhibited with Utopia women artists in Australia and abroad 1977- 88.