The transfer of cultural knowledge within tribal, remote Indigenous communities anywhere in the world is essential for their prosperity and longevity. This is arguably the most important lesson I have learned over 20+ years of running a community-focused contemporary art gallery.

It cannot be overstated how vital this process is, especially with the passage of time and the growing dependence on Western models of living. For centuries, the Indigenous people of Australia have understood the threat to their existence amidst the changing landscape of their lands and the interference of white settlers. Their birthright bestows upon them custodial rights and responsibilities to Country and Lore, thereby tasking them to nurture, protect, and pass on cultural knowledge.

The Indigenous art movement, in large part, sprung from this objective – ensuring the continuity of cultural legacy. This ‘task’ is embedded in every Indigenous Australian man, woman, and child. 

The bastion of the modern Indigenous art movement, Papunya Tula Artists, was born from this need, which was seminal to both its genesis and evolution. The early Papunya Tula boards of 1971-1973, painted by the men of the community, initiated a relentless body of work, Tardis-like in nature, profoundly deeper beneath the surface than it appeared from initial outside observation.

Over the last 50 years, art has played a pivotal role in this cultural transference. However, the passage of time affects us all, and most, if not all, the ‘first contact’ guardians of culture and Tjukurrpa (Dreaming stories) of otherworldly phenomena have now passed on. The need to preserve these stories presents a complex cultural evolution, with each new generation omitting, obscuring, elaborating, massaging, altering, and changing inflections to better fit the shifting cultural paradigm. 

This ‘old and new’ body of works speaks to this transition: the baton of responsibility taken on by the children and grandchildren of the pioneering Pintupi painters of the Western Desert art movement, a movement catalysed by a culture so deep and profound that we are still learning from it and discovering new stories today.

Enjoy works which transcend over 25 years of production, father and son side by side, aunts next to nieces, nephews and uncles — all bound by one unbreakable, invisible need:

The continuance of culture. Long may it continue.