In the history of Australian art, you’d be hard pressed to find an exhibition that has received more media coverage than the National Gallery of Australia’s winter blockbuster, Ngura Puḻka – Epic Country. Yet very little of this coverage has been about the exhibition itself, which opens today in Canberra. Instead, Ngura Puḻka – a landmark exhibition of 30 new paintings by Indigenous artists of the Aṉangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara (APY) Lands – has been the subject of intense controversy, spurred by a series of shocking allegations published in The Australian. These led to a string of investigations, sustained and divisive public commentary, a multimillion dollar lawsuit and a three-year postponement.
Walking through the gallery spaces, you might wonder what all the fuss was about. On the face of it, this is an entirely uncontroversial exhibition: 30 large-scale paintings of the desert country and tjukurpa – ancestral stories/cultural law – of the Aṉangu in South Australia’s north-west. To look at, the paintings are remarkable only for their size, colour and frequent beauty. Aerial views of the APY Lands show waterholes, riverbeds, spinifex and other flora; earth tunnels formed by honey ants. Some paintings show key Aṉangu tjukurpa, including the story of the Seven Sisters, and spirits, such as the mischievous “mamu”.
