Transitional Beauty

Transitional Beauty

A Collection of Fine Papunya Tula Indigenous Art


Opens 16 Jun 2025

NANYUMA NAPANGATI

Marrapinti


NN1611048 (2016)
Acrylic on Belgian Linen
91 x 122cm | 35.83 x 48.03in
Papunya Tula Artists

ENQUIRE


NINGURA NAPURRULA (dec)

Women at Ngaminya


NN0504019 (2005)
Synthetic Polymer Paint on Linen
210 x 280cm | 82.68 x 110.24in
Papunya Tula Artists

ENQUIRE


RONNIE TJAMPITJINPA (dec)

Water Dreaming - Wilkinkarra


RT0503025 (2005)
Acrylic on Belgian Linen
153 x 122cm | 60.24 x 48.03in
Papunya Tula Artists

ENQUIRE


AUBREY TJANGALA

Untitled


AT2405102 (2024)
Acrylic on Linen
153 x 122cm | 60.24 x 48.03in
Papunya Tula Artists

ENQUIRE


ANGUS TJUNGURRAYI

Untitled


AT2411202 (2024)
Acrylic on Linen
122 x 107cm | 48.03 x 42.13in
Papunya Tula Artists

ENQUIRE


GEORGE TJUNGURRAYI

Untitled


GT2407204 (2024)
Acrylic on Linen
122 x 153cm | 48.03 x 60.24in
Papunya Tula Artists

ENQUIRE

16 Jun 2025

Online Exhibition

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.