Paltjuliri



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04 mar 2026

 

Paltjuliri

A Solo Exhibition by Kunmanara Patju Presley

 

 

 

In collaboration with

spinifex-white

                  and

 NAC-white

Kunmanara Patju Presley | © Stephen Oxenbury

 

 

ReDot Fine Art Gallery

 

presents

 

Paltjuliri

 

A Solo Exhibition by Kunmanara Patju Presley

04 Mar | 24 Apr 2026

 

 

 

 

 

ReDot Logo_G&R_A0

 

Kunmanara Presley with his paint box (2022) | © Spinifex Arts Project

KUNMANARA PATJU PRESLEY (dec)

Makanya

23-423 (2023)
Acrylic on Linen
KUNMANARA PATJU PRESLEY (dec)

Makanya
23-423 (2023)
Acrylic on Linen
200 x 137cm | 78.74 x 53.94in
ENQUIRE

KUNMANARA PATJU PRESLEY (dec)

Makanya

23-282 (2023)
Acrylic on Linen
KUNMANARA PATJU PRESLEY (dec)

Makanya
23-282 (2023)
Acrylic on Linen
200 x 137cm | 78.74 x 53.94in
ENQUIRE

KUNMANARA PATJU PRESLEY (dec)

Pukara

23-150 (2023)
Acrylic on Linen
KUNMANARA PATJU PRESLEY (dec)

Pukara
23-150 (2023)
Acrylic on Linen
200 x 137cm | 78.74 x 53.94in
ENQUIRE

Kunmanara Presley on country with his dog | © Stephen Oxenbury

kunmanara patju presley 
An essay by brian hallett
 

To write about the man, the artist, who it seemed wanted to live forever young, is to pay tribute, a testimonial of immense recognition and respect. Stanley Paltjuliri Presley (Patju) refused to see himself as aged. Knowledgeable, yes. Cultural, of course. A fine orator, indeed. But never an ‘old’ man. Not one of those other people who become frail, and lose mental agility, and act…well, old. No, he was determined, even as his lung capacity diminished below barely functional, to stay at the peak of his vibrant positivity. He kept his vice (cigarettes) close by (much to the dismay and lectures of clinic staff or various family relations)—right to end, as if to say, ‘life is how you live it’. And he held onto that infectious enthusiasm of being ‘up for anything,’ until he wasn’t.

We were lucky enough to see him when his death seemed near. He quietly apologised for his spirit having departed and thanked us for visiting. We knew it would be the last time we saw him. This was sad, but no one could begrudge or mourn the wonderful life he had lived. He amassed so much reverence and acclaim, and a dedication of admirers, for his transcendent compositions, that his legacy will never fade. Fame had brought him many accolades, but more importantly for Patju, it bought him Toyotas, and they became his means of mobility, as his dwindling lung capacity made it harder and harder to walk even short distances. You would know if Patju had car trouble when you did not see him in the art centre for a day. In the end, he drove everywhere.

But we should remember, with his passing goes a linkage that spans the wider history of the contemporary Indigenous Art world. Patju Presley was happily residing at Tjuntjuntjara Community after a thirteen-year period of painting with the Spinifex Arts Project. He had sporadically painted with SAP, prior to residing permanently, on his journeys from Irrunytju Community. This would have been to visit close relatives, the Grant and Pennington families, or when Men’s Business travelled south. But his passing reveals another legacy is also closed, Patju was a founding male artist with Irrunytju Arts in 2002. He is the last of those leading men who rose to prominence, think Tommy Watson, Nyakul Dawson, Clem Rictor, Patju was there with them, at the forefront of a profound art movement that still resonates today. His incandescence keeps glowing. He began his painting career much like he continued it, with a mesmerising approach to colour, form, and story, at times, intertwining these common structures like a grand pigment opera upon the surface of the painting. Shimmering in iridescence, calling with luminosity, calming in their radiance, his compositions sang.

Patju had it all covered, as his gregarious, sociable personality radiated out from an equally colourful spirit he seemed to have been born with. He was always exuberant with his insights and intimate knowledge of the interwoven meaning that traversed most of the arid but beautiful landscape he inhabited. He saw the sacred in his life and his country, and readily shared this knowledge with those ignorant of the importance of a spiritual upbringing written in the surrounding environment.
 
Patju’s early life was most likely spent naked. He told stories from his formative years as ‘walking with family. Everywhere. Rockhole to rockhole. Kuka (game), mai (plants), keep going’. When he was an older boy, his family was located somewhere south of Irrunytju, (Patju’s recollection) within the Great Victoria Desert, by Native Patrol officers assigned to
‘clear the area of any natives’, as a consequence of the British Atomic Testing at Emu Fields and Maralinga. His family was then taken to Warburton Mission, which must have been the closest mission. It seems there was no discrepancy in where people were taken, but rather an under-resourced, overworked, frantic effort, to move purposefully wandering residents of the country… to their own safety.

His connection to the Spinifex people is familial through his father, who was born in Spinifex country, but Patju was raised in and around the Ernabella Christian Mission in the Anangu Pitjantjatjara Lands. He schooled at Oodnadatta and became a community pastor whilst at Ernabella, it seems espousing grand sermons to an unsuspecting audience is what Patju was born for. He slept with his trusted Pitjantjatjara Bible nearby and always carried this when he was travelling. He performed random Sunday church sessions wherever he happened to be, but he never let go of his cultural upbringing, his spiritual core, his knowledge of the Tjukurpa, the beginning. This he transposed into extraordinary compositions for all to experience.

In 2023, we combined the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Award with a group show at Short Street Gallery in Broome and accompanied Patju and Timo Hogan on a driving adventure from Darwin to Broome, stopping at scenic spots on the way. It was a pleasure to have the ever-inquisitive Patju as company, attired in a new outfit including boots, Akubra, and of course, a noticeable shirt, he was always a smart dresser. The wonderful thing is, he had so many gifts for people who came into contact with him that he will never be forgotten. And we all know his creative legacy will grace the walls of galleries and auction houses for generations to come. He wholeheartedly deserves that recognition and more.

Brian Hallet
Former Art Centre Studio Manager
Spinifex Arts Project Aboriginal Corporation


KUNMANARA PATJU PRESLEY (dec)

Pinanti

24-76 (2024)
Acrylic on Linen
KUNMANARA PATJU PRESLEY (dec)

Pinanti
24-76 (2024)
Acrylic on Linen
200 x 290cm | 78.74 x 114.17in
ENQUIRE

KUNMANARA PATJU PRESLEY (dec)

Tolu

21-342 (2021)
Acrylic on Linen
KUNMANARA PATJU PRESLEY (dec)

Tolu
21-342 (2021)
Acrylic on Linen
137 x 90cm | 53.94 x 35.43in
ENQUIRE
Provenance
Spinifex Arts Project
Aboriginal Signature - Estrangin Gallery, Brussels, Belgium
Private Collection - Melbourne

KUNMANARA PATJU PRESLEY (dec)

Ilpili

25-173 (2025)
Acrylic on Linen
KUNMANARA PATJU PRESLEY (dec)

Ilpili
25-173 (2025)
Acrylic on Linen
75 x 60cm | 29.53 x 23.62in
ENQUIRE

Kunmanara Presley painting 24-76 (200 x 290cm)

Kunmanara Presley in one of his many | © Spinifex Arts Project

KUNMANARA PATJU PRESLEY (dec)

Mamu Piti

23-344 (2023)
Acrylic on Linen
KUNMANARA PATJU PRESLEY (dec)

Mamu Piti
23-344 (2023)
Acrylic on Linen
230 x 200cm | 90.55 x 78.74in
ENQUIRE

KUNMANARA PATJU PRESLEY (dec)

Pinanti

25-69 (2025)
Acrylic on Linen
KUNMANARA PATJU PRESLEY (dec)

Pinanti
25-69 (2025)
Acrylic on Linen
230 x 200cm | 90.55 x 78.74in
ENQUIRE

Kunmanara Presley painting 25-69 (230 x 200cm)

KUNMANARA PATJU PRESLEY (dec)


KUNMANARA PATJU PRESLEY (dec) LanguagePitjantjatjara
Place of BirthItaratjara
HomeTjuntjuntjara

Biography

Patju Presley (Kunmanara Presley), a senior Pitjantjatjara elder and lawman from the remote Spinifex community in Tjuntjuntjara, Western Australia, was one of the leading voices in contemporary Australian Indigenous art until his passing in 2025.

Born in 1945 at the sacred site of Itaratjara, nestled deep within the Great Victoria Desert, Kunmanara (Patju) Presley embodied the nomadic essence of his Pila Nguru (Spinifex People) forebears, traversing ancient Tjukurpa tracks that weave together sacred places, sources of food and water, and deep ancestral stories.

Presley's paintings celebrate the sacred Spinifex homelands from which he was once exiled. As a youth, Presley and his family were displaced by British nuclear testing in South Australia. Throughout the 1950s, with Australian government approval, the UK detonated seven atomic bombs and conducted hundreds of smaller weapons-related tests at Maralinga, a prohibited military zone within the Great Victoria Desert. Nuclear blasts and radioactive fallout forced local Aangu (Indigenous Pitjantjatjara and Yankunytjatjara communities) from their ancestral country, dispossessing them from their homelands for decades.

From a vantage point high in the Mann Ranges, Presley as a child witnessed what he called "the big smoke": a mushroom cloud that upended his existence as a desert nomad and shaped a new life. His family migrated first to the Warburton Mission, then trekked more than 500 kilometres by foot to Ernabella (Pukatja), where Presley acquired Pitjantjatjara literacy and the Christian gospel.

Trained as a preacher, he served as both a community pastor as well as a traditional Indigenous lawman and practitioner of inma (ceremonial song and dance), inhabiting both religious traditions with ease. Presley began painting at the Irrunytju art center in the early-2000s, amid an epochal surge of new Aangu artists. He later joined the Spinifex Arts Project at Tjuntjuntjara, igniting his art practice with extraordinary assurance and gaining international recognition.

Presley's paintings, deploy bold color and shimmering veils of rhythmic dotting to render epic Tjukurpa (creation narratives) that depict the primordial journeys of Kalaya (emus), Wati Kutjara (water snake men), and Wati Ngintaka (an ancestral monitor lizard).

Vibrant hues in pointillistic cascades evoke the spiritual richness of his northern Spinifex homeland, capturing the calm harmonies of desert sandhills, rockholes with their life-giving water basins, and the totemic ancestral tracks that bind the Pila Nguru (Spinifex People) to their land.

Presley's works function both as abstract maps and deeply spiritual testimonial statements, balancing dignity and gravitas with dynamic movement. Drawing from his experience of nuclear displacement, personal reinvention, and subsequent recovery of native tradition, his work celebrates the reclamation of Spinifex homelands and the fortitude and resilience of the Pila Nguru.

Presley's enduring brilliance lies in his ability to bridge ancient Tjukurpa with contemporary expression, a galvanizing interplay of the abstract and the ancestral, confirming the vitality of Indigenous storytelling. Although Presley's painting practice was relatively short-lived, its impact remains profound, cementing his legacy as a masterful chronicler of Spinifex Country and its metaphysical potency.

Featured in landmark exhibitions including Sun & Shadow: Art of the Spinifex People (2023), the NGV Triennial, Tarnanthi Festival, and In the Beginning at the Kluge-Ruhe Aboriginal Art Collection (USA, 2025–6), Presley's paintings are highly sought after and grace prestigious, significant public and private collections, reflecting his growing international stature.

In 2023 he was also commissioned to produce a monumental 300 x 200cm canvas, entitled Wakura, for the Embassy of Australia, in Washington DC, an undertaking he was immensely proud of.  The artwork was part of a series of six new site-specific commissions by various Australian artists for the embassy.

Patju Presley (Kunmanara Presley), a senior Pitjantjatjara elder and lawman from the remote Spinifex community in Tjuntjuntjara, Western Australia, was one of the leading voices in contemporary Australian Indigenous art until his passing in 2025.
Born in 1945 at the sacred site of Itaratjara, nestled deep within the Great Victoria Desert, Kunmanara (Patju) Presley embodied the nomadic essence of his Pila Nguru (Spinifex People) forebears, traversing ancient Tjukurpa tracks that weave together sacred places, sources of food and water, and deep ancestral stories.
Presley's paintings celebrate...

Collections


  • Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art (QAGOMA)
  • National Gallery of Victoria (NGV)
  • Art Gallery of New South Wales (AGNSW)
  • Art Gallery of South Australia (AGSA)
  • Art Gallery of Western Australia (AGWA)
  • National Gallery of Australia (NGA)
  • University of Queensland Art Museum
  • Kluge-Ruhe Aboriginal Art Collection
  • Fondation Opale
  • Steve Martin & Anne Stringfield Collection
  • Embassy of Australia

KUNMANARA PATJU PRESLEY (dec)

Wanguntiri

24-194 (2024)
Acrylic on Linen
KUNMANARA PATJU PRESLEY (dec)

Wanguntiri
24-194 (2024)
Acrylic on Linen
200 x 137cm | 78.74 x 53.94in
ENQUIRE

KUNMANARA PATJU PRESLEY (dec)

Pukara

23-328 (2023)
Acrylic on Linen
KUNMANARA PATJU PRESLEY (dec)

Pukara
23-328 (2023)
Acrylic on Linen
200 x 137cm | 78.74 x 53.94in
ENQUIRE

KUNMANARA PATJU PRESLEY (dec)

Ilpilli

24-213 (2024)
Acrylic on Linen
KUNMANARA PATJU PRESLEY (dec)

Ilpilli
24-213 (2024)
Acrylic on Linen
200 x 137cm | 78.74 x 53.94in
ENQUIRE

Kunmanara Presley painting 24-213 (200 x 137cm)

KUNMANARA PATJU PRESLEY (dec)

Kamina

24-269 (2024)
Acrylic on Linen
KUNMANARA PATJU PRESLEY (dec)

Kamina
24-269 (2024)
Acrylic on Linen
200 x 137cm | 78.74 x 53.94in
ENQUIRE

KUNMANARA PATJU PRESLEY (dec)

Tjari munu Katapatja

25-279 (2025)
Acrylic on Linen
KUNMANARA PATJU PRESLEY (dec)

Tjari munu Katapatja
25-279 (2025)
Acrylic on Linen
110 x 85cm | 43.31 x 33.46in
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Kunmanara Presley painting 25-279 (100 x 85cm)

KUNMANARA PATJU PRESLEY (dec)

Pinanti

25-136 (2025)
Acrylic on Linen
KUNMANARA PATJU PRESLEY (dec)

Pinanti
25-136 (2025)
Acrylic on Linen
75 x 60cm | 29.53 x 23.62in
ENQUIRE

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In collaboration with

 

spinifex

            and

NAC

Kunmanara Presley's Painting Box | © Spinifex Arts Project

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04 Mar 2026

The National Arts Club, Gramercy Park

ReDot Fine Art Gallery, in collaboration with the renowned Spinifex Arts Project Aboriginal Corporation, is proud to announce an exclusive exhibition featuring two distinguished senior Pitjantjatjara artists from the Spinifex community: Timo Hogan and Kunmanara Presley. 


Hosted at the historic National Arts Club in Gramercy Park, this presentation offers New York audiences a rare opportunity to experience the profound depth and spiritual power of contemporary Australian Indigenous art from the remote community of Tjuntjuntjara in Western Australia's Great Victoria Desert.