Opening Night - Ngura Walkatjunanyi: Marking and Painting Country

Ngura Walkatjunanyi: Marking and Painting Country APY Docklands Gallery Melbourne Sept/Oct 2026 Kaltjiti Arts Centre group show This exhibition brings together a new body of acrylic paintings by the Minyma (women) artists of Kaltjiti Arts, capturing the continuing cultural practice rooted in the remote community of Fregon within the APY Lands. The title of this exhibition, Ngura Walkatjunanyi, translates from Pitjantjatjara as "Marking and Painting Country." Far more than a description of artistic technique, this phrase encapsulates a sacred responsibility. For Aṉangu women, to paint country is to physically and spiritually map their relationship to the land, asserting an unbroken custody and unceded sovereignty that has existed for millennia. The canvases on display are defined by Kaltjiti’s signature aesthetic: highly saturated colour combinations, luminous tonal shifts, and bold, confident linework. Moving between dense overlays of shimmering dot-work and rhythmic, gestural lines, the artists translate the physical realities of their environment—the undulating sand dunes (tali), shifting desert light, and vital rockholes (tjukula)—into breathtaking visual poetry Beneath these vibrant, contemporary layers lies the eternal framework of Tjukurpa (Ancestral Law). Through these works, the women map sacred creation tracks, including the Kungkarangkalpa (Seven Sisters) and Minyma Kutjara (Two Women) epics. Each brushstroke acts as a living link to the ancestors who first walked, shaped, and sang these landscapes into existence. At its heart, Ngura Walkatjunanyi is a celebration of matriarchal lineage and intergenerational survival. In the Kaltjiti studio, senior elders paint shoulder-to-shoulder with their daughters and granddaughters. By placing brush to canvas, they are not only recording history; they are actively handing down the sacred markings, stories, and cultural tools required to sustain their community into the future. Please be with us on this journey and help celebrate the works of these women artists from Kaltjiti as they continue to tell their story of culture and country. Palya