New MOA Exhibition Arrives from the Australian Desert
PROVO, UT – A new exhibition opened today at the BYU Museum of Art featuring a collection of works by Aboriginal artists from Australia’s Western Desert. Irriṯitja Kuwarri Tjungu (Past and Present Together): Contemporary Aboriginal Painting from the Australian Desert features 128 artworks by the Papunya Tula Artists, the oldest Aboriginal-owned arts organization in Australia. Like all MOA exhibitions, the exhibition is free and open to all.
In 1971, a small group of Aboriginal artists in the remote township of Papunya began painting their sacred ancestral designs using contemporary materials and methods. From these humble beginnings, a multimillion-dollar industry would emerge, changing the face of contemporary art and creating a powerful voice for Indigenous artists that echoes from past to present. Inspired by the sweeping ancestral landscape of the Australian desert, these men and women forged one of the world’s greatest stories of resilience, self-determination, and the power of art.
"These old men had a picture in their mind from Country and ceremony, and they were starting to think about how they were going to do that new form of painting,” said Punata Stockman Nungurrayi, artist and daughter of founding artist Bill Stockman Tjapaltjarri. “They started the style of painting that we are now doing. From there, it blew up like a balloon. They started small, and from small they blew up. From Australia to the United States, overseas, like a balloon."
This exhibition features works from almost 100 artists produced between 1971 and 2021. Featured artists include Kaapa Tjampitjinpa, Johnny Warangkula Tjupurrula, Clifford Possum Tjapaltjarri, Mick Namarari Tjapaltjarri, Warlimpirrnga Tjapaltjarri, Makinti Napanangka, and Yukultji Napangati.
“These paintings express the power of the ancestral beings that shaped the Australian desert and guided its inhabitants for millennia,” said MOA Curator Dr. Isaac King. “Despite the abrupt and sweeping changes confronting Aboriginal communities across Australia over the last 100 years, the potency of these works affirms the continuing vital presence of their ancestors as a rejuvenating and sustaining force. Though these paintings are informed by secret community knowledge, they have been made to be shared with outsiders, inviting us all to marvel alongside them at the spiritual potency of their ancestors.”
The exhibition is organized by Kluge-Ruhe Aboriginal Art Collection of the University of Virginia in conjunction with Papunya Tula Artists. The show is accompanied by a major catalog edited by anthropologist Dr. Fred Myers and art historian Dr. Henry Skerritt, which is available for purchase at the MOA Store.
"Each artwork is extraordinary,” the Australian Prime Minister, the Hon. Anthony Albanese MP, remarked on the exhibition. “Gathered together, they are a profound expression of power, grace and beauty from members of the world’s oldest continuous culture. I am glad they are here [in the USA] to be seen, appreciated, and loved."
Irriṯitja Kuwarri Tjungu is open at the Museum until December 6, 2025. Details of the exhibition, including previews of several artworks featured in it, are available at https://moa.byu.edu/irrititja-kuwarri-tjungu.
ABOUT THE BYU MUSEUM OF ART
One of the largest and best-attended university art museums in the Mountain West, the BYU Museum of Art offers a dynamic exhibition schedule that includes displays of its permanent collection, world-class traveling shows and thought-provoking exhibitions organized by museum curators. One of the museum’s most important roles is its contribution to the academic mission of Brigham Young University. From the research and study of the artworks in the permanent collection, to the teaching and learning that occurs in classrooms and galleries, the museum plays an important role in the academic pursuits of many students at BYU. Concurrently, the museum seeks to connect to broad community audiences through its exhibitions, educational programming, and online outreach.
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