Landmark show is a monumental tribute to family, Country and care
Small in number but monumental in scale, the paintings in this show trace Pumani's artistic evolution over more than 15 years. Together, they chart a compelling arc, honouring both the refinement of her style and the deep knowledge that sustains it. While her visual language shifts over time, her subject stays constant: her Country, Antara – held, reimagined and passed down through generations.
Curated by Bundanon chief executive Rachel Kent, in collaboration with Mimili Maku Arts, the exhibition centres on Pumani's intergenerational matrilineage. Her first major museum survey honours the women who shaped her practice and those who will carry it forward. Its title, Malatja-malatja – a Pitjantjatjara phrase meaning 'those who come after' – speaks to a responsibility grounded, not in ownership, but in care and continuity. What we do now, Pumani reminds us, belongs to the generations ahead.
This vision of custodianship runs through her work and is echoed in the presence of key paintings by her mother, Kunmanara (Milatjari) Pumani, and elder sister, Kunmanara (Ngupulya) Pumani. Their works root the exhibition in shared authority and matrilineal knowledge. These mesmerising, pulsating canvases reveal how ancestral stories adapt over time. The story stays the same, but each artist brings it to life through her own visual language. In Pumani's hands, that language is unmistakable: cobalt waterholes, Pilbara-red boulders, and white, lace-like passages that conjure maku and tobacco flowers. Her paintings carry Country's pulse, its lifeblood flowing through red veins and deep blue springs, surrounded by the quiet shimmer of renewal.
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Sydney Morning Herald
25-07-2025
- Sydney Morning Herald
Landmark show is a monumental tribute to family, Country and care
The Bundanon Art Museum's Winter Series opens with a landmark exhibition by Betty Kuntiwa Pumani, one of the most celebrated painters from the Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara (APY) Lands. A senior cultural custodian and long-time artist with Mimili Maku Arts, she paints in the community where she lives, grounding her work in the rhythms of Country. Her practice rests on a powerful matrilineal line, shaped by generations of women who have carried and shared cultural knowledge through image, story and ceremony. Small in number but monumental in scale, the paintings in this show trace Pumani's artistic evolution over more than 15 years. Together, they chart a compelling arc, honouring both the refinement of her style and the deep knowledge that sustains it. While her visual language shifts over time, her subject stays constant: her Country, Antara – held, reimagined and passed down through generations. Curated by Bundanon chief executive Rachel Kent, in collaboration with Mimili Maku Arts, the exhibition centres on Pumani's intergenerational matrilineage. Her first major museum survey honours the women who shaped her practice and those who will carry it forward. Its title, Malatja-malatja – a Pitjantjatjara phrase meaning 'those who come after' – speaks to a responsibility grounded, not in ownership, but in care and continuity. What we do now, Pumani reminds us, belongs to the generations ahead. This vision of custodianship runs through her work and is echoed in the presence of key paintings by her mother, Kunmanara (Milatjari) Pumani, and elder sister, Kunmanara (Ngupulya) Pumani. Their works root the exhibition in shared authority and matrilineal knowledge. These mesmerising, pulsating canvases reveal how ancestral stories adapt over time. The story stays the same, but each artist brings it to life through her own visual language. In Pumani's hands, that language is unmistakable: cobalt waterholes, Pilbara-red boulders, and white, lace-like passages that conjure maku and tobacco flowers. Her paintings carry Country's pulse, its lifeblood flowing through red veins and deep blue springs, surrounded by the quiet shimmer of renewal.
The Age
25-07-2025
- The Age
Landmark show is a monumental tribute to family, Country and care
The Bundanon Art Museum's Winter Series opens with a landmark exhibition by Betty Kuntiwa Pumani, one of the most celebrated painters from the Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara (APY) Lands. A senior cultural custodian and long-time artist with Mimili Maku Arts, she paints in the community where she lives, grounding her work in the rhythms of Country. Her practice rests on a powerful matrilineal line, shaped by generations of women who have carried and shared cultural knowledge through image, story and ceremony. Small in number but monumental in scale, the paintings in this show trace Pumani's artistic evolution over more than 15 years. Together, they chart a compelling arc, honouring both the refinement of her style and the deep knowledge that sustains it. While her visual language shifts over time, her subject stays constant: her Country, Antara – held, reimagined and passed down through generations. Curated by Bundanon chief executive Rachel Kent, in collaboration with Mimili Maku Arts, the exhibition centres on Pumani's intergenerational matrilineage. Her first major museum survey honours the women who shaped her practice and those who will carry it forward. Its title, Malatja-malatja – a Pitjantjatjara phrase meaning 'those who come after' – speaks to a responsibility grounded, not in ownership, but in care and continuity. What we do now, Pumani reminds us, belongs to the generations ahead. This vision of custodianship runs through her work and is echoed in the presence of key paintings by her mother, Kunmanara (Milatjari) Pumani, and elder sister, Kunmanara (Ngupulya) Pumani. Their works root the exhibition in shared authority and matrilineal knowledge. These mesmerising, pulsating canvases reveal how ancestral stories adapt over time. The story stays the same, but each artist brings it to life through her own visual language. In Pumani's hands, that language is unmistakable: cobalt waterholes, Pilbara-red boulders, and white, lace-like passages that conjure maku and tobacco flowers. Her paintings carry Country's pulse, its lifeblood flowing through red veins and deep blue springs, surrounded by the quiet shimmer of renewal.
