{"id":598671,"date":"2026-04-10T21:20:08","date_gmt":"2026-04-10T21:20:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/598671\/"},"modified":"2026-04-10T21:20:08","modified_gmt":"2026-04-10T21:20:08","slug":"after-three-years-investigations-and-now-a-4-4m-lawsuit-australias-most-controversial-art-exhibition-finally-opens-indigenous-art","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/598671\/","title":{"rendered":"After three years, investigations and now a $4.4m lawsuit, Australia\u2019s most controversial art exhibition finally opens | Indigenous art"},"content":{"rendered":"

In the history of Australian art, you\u2019d be hard pressed to find an exhibition that has received more media coverage than the National Gallery of Australia\u2019s winter blockbuster, Ngura Pu\u1e3bka \u2013 Epic Country<\/a>. Yet very little of this coverage has been about the exhibition itself, which opens today in Canberra. Instead, Ngura Pu\u1e3bka \u2013 a landmark exhibition of 30 new paintings by Indigenous artists of the A\u1e49angu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara (APY) Lands \u2013 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.<\/p>\n

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 \u2013 ancestral stories\/cultural law \u2013 of the A\u1e49angu in South Australia\u2019s 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 A\u1e49angu tjukurpa, including the story of the Seven Sisters, and spirits, such as the mischievous \u201cmamu\u201d.<\/p>\n

Ngura Pu\u1e3bka has opened at the National Gallery of Australia in Canberra this weekend. Photograph: National Gallery of Australia<\/p>\n

Together, the paintings represent an epic tribute to an epic country, and to the A\u1e49angu\u2019s connection to that country. The bulk were produced during the Covid years, as the result of a collective project by arts centres in the APY Lands. Tina Baum, the head curator of First Nations art at NGA, describes herself as the \u201ccuratorial assistant\u201d to the A\u1e49angu artists. \u201cThis is their vision and their dream,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

Kaltjiti Men\u2019s Collaborative, Pilta\u1e6fi Tjukurpa 2021-2022 \u00a9 the artists\/Kaltjiti Arts\/APY Art Centre CollectiveBarbara Moore, Anmatyerre people, Ngayuku Ngura (My Country) 2021 \u00a9 the artist\/Tjala Arts Photograph: Andy Francis\/APY Art Centre Collective<\/p>\n

The APY Lands region is a heavy hitter within Australian art<\/a>, scooping up awards in the annual National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Awards (Natsiaas) and the Art Gallery of NSW\u2019s Wynne Prize for landscape painting, and prominently featured in the biennial First Nations exhibition Tarnanthi and the Biennale of Sydney.<\/p>\n

A\u1e49angu artists \u201cwant to bring their story to other people\u201d, says senior artist Sandra Pumani. \u201cAbout your country, how you grow up, where you\u2019re from and what story is there. You feel really happy [painting that story].\u201d<\/p>\n

Jeannie Minunga, Kay Finn and Myra Kumantjara in the APYACC studio on Kaurna Country \/ Adelaide in 2022, with their work Nganampa Ngura \u2013 Our Country (2022). Photograph: Andy Francis\/APY Art Centre Collective<\/p>\n

We\u2019re sitting in the Ngura Pu\u1e3bka exhibition; nearby is Pumani\u2019s 3m by 3m canvas showing an aerial view of the rock holes at a culturally significant site near Mimili, where she grew up. Around the corner is a painting by her aunt, the prize-winning painter Betty Kuntiwa Pumani; and a collaborative canvas that her late grandfather contributed to.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not the first time most of these paintings have been at NGA: the Ngura Pu\u1e3bka exhibition was almost entirely installed when it was cancelled at the last moment, in June 2023. Two months earlier, The Australian newspaper had published serious allegations about the organisation behind the exhibition, the APY Arts Centre Collective (APYACC): an Aboriginal-owned and led association of arts centres spread across the vast APY Lands, representing more than 500 A\u1e49angu artists.<\/p>\n

In an article headlined \u201cWhite hands on black art\u201d, artists and present and former staff alleged that white studio assistants had painted substantial sections of works credited to Indigenous artists in the APYACC, and that they\u2019d interfered with depictions of A\u1e49angu tjukurpa. Also included were stills and footage from a video filmed at Tjala Arts centre, a member of the collective, showing a white arts worker applying paint to a canvas by the acclaimed artist Yaritji Young.<\/p>\n

APYACC rejected the allegations<\/a>, and denied that its artists or their paintings had been compromised, saying in a statement at the time: \u201cIt is in no way interfering [with] the artist\u2019s Tjukurpa [creation] or out of the ordinary for an art assistant to take part in this process \u2026 at the artist\u2019s direction.\u201d<\/p>\n

Zaachariaha Fielding, Pitjantjatjara people, Inma 2022 \u00a9 the artist \/ APY Art Centre Collective, image courtesy APY Art Centre Collective, photo: Andy Francis Photograph: APY Art Centre Collective<\/p>\n

But within days of The Australian\u2019s report, NGA commissioned an independent review<\/a> into the provenance of only the 28 paintings destined for its exhibition \u2013 not the conduct within the APYACC \u2013 to determine whether the artists attributed as the creators of these works had \u201cexercised effective creative control over the creation of [them]\u201d.<\/p>\n

The allegations against APYACC also triggered a review led by the South Australian government, which referred its findings to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) and the Office of the Registrar of Indigenous Corporations (Oric) for further investigation. The ACCC found that no consumer laws had been breached, while Oric concluded its investigation with no further action, stating that \u201cno adverse inference\u201d should be made from the investigation closing.<\/p>\n

But while the investigations were pending, the Indigenous Art Code, responsible for administering a code of ethical practice within the industry, revoked APYACC\u2019s membership. The collective\u2019s state and government funding, totalling $380,000 in 2023, was suspended.<\/p>\n

Pitjantjatjara artist Yaritji Heffernan in the APY Art Centre Collective studio with her work Kapi Tjuku\u1e3ba, 2022. Photograph: Andy Francis\/APY Art Centre Collective<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, the NGA investigation determined that the 28 paintings in Ngura Pu\u1e3bka met the gallery\u2019s provenance standards<\/a>. Of these, three have since been withdrawn from the exhibition: two for personal reasons relating to a single artist; and one by Sally Scales, who has since been appointed a member of NGA\u2019s council and chair of their First Nations advisory group, due to the new conflict of interest. A fourth painting is currently showing in another exhibition. Six new paintings have been added.<\/p>\n

But none of the works in Ngura Pu\u1e3bka will be acquired by NGA, which had initially intended to buy all 28 original paintings. They did not respond to questions from Guardian Australia about the reasons for this reversal.<\/p>\n

Pitjantjatjara artist Iluwanti Ken with her work Walawuru nguynytju munu mama kukaku ananyi (Mother and father eagles going hunting), 2022. Photograph: Andy Francis\/APY Art Centre CollectiveIluwanti Ken\u2019s painting Walawuru nguynytju munu mama kukaku ananyi. Photograph: APY Art Centre Collective<\/p>\n

APYACC says it suffered a significant financial loss as a result of The Australian\u2019s reporting, including a downturn in sales. And while their state funding was reinstated last year, the collective believes their expulsion from the Indigenous Art Code, as a result of the allegations, has adversely affected their federal funding applications in the years since.<\/p>\n

In a defamation suit lodged with South Australia\u2019s supreme court, the collective is suing Nationwide News, publisher of The Australian newspaper, for $4.4m<\/a>: a figure that includes the loss of the NGA sale, which they put at $1,397,000, and their lost federal funding, which they estimated at $1.07m.<\/p>\n

All the APYACC artists I talk to ahead of the exhibition express frustration at being expelled from the Code, and the loss of federal funding; there\u2019s a sense of aggrievement tempering their joy and pride in seeing their artworks finally installed on the gallery walls.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019ve had four reviews, and there were no findings that we were doing anything wrong,\u201d says artist and APYACC board member George Cooley. \u201cBut we\u2019re still not getting approval for any federal funding.\u201d<\/p>\n

We\u2019re sitting in front of his painting of an escarpment in Coober Pedy, opal country. A miner since the age of 16, Cooley only took up painting in 2021, in his late 60s. His landscape paintings have since been selected for the Adelaide Biennial, the Wynne Prize and the Natsiaas.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy aim is to set up a legacy for my family, for my community,\u201d he says. \u201cThe main aim of the APY collective is to establish something so the next generation can look at and say, \u2018This is mine. This is made by my people. If they can do it, I can do it.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

He says the collective\u2019s business model, which returns approximately 85% of income from sales directly to artists and art centres, \u201copened the doorway for income generation for single mums, grandparents, young people\u201d.<\/p>\n

Pitjantjatjara artists Betty Muffler and Maringka Burton, Ngangka\u1e5fi Ngura (Healing Country), 2022. Photograph: APY Art Centre Collective<\/p>\n

Nyunmiti Burton, whose painting of the Seven Sisters story hangs in Ngura Pu\u1e3bka, says she wants to share this important story about leadership and taking care of family and community: \u201cThis story is not only for Australians, but all over the world.\u201d Painting<\/a> is also a crucial source of income: \u201cThis is work I\u2019m doing for my kids, for my family. It\u2019s good money, to feed them.\u201d<\/p>\n

Burton was a key figure in The Australian\u2019s \u201cWhite hands on black art\u201d reporting: in a video recorded by journalist Greg Bearup, she accused APYACC CEO Skye O\u2019Meara and other white staff of inappropriate interference in artworks. Before the video was even published, she issued a letter retracting her statements.<\/p>\n

She tells me she regrets making the video. She\u2019d had an argument with O\u2019Meara shortly before, she says, and was unwell: \u201cI\u2019ve been sorry for myself, and I\u2019m weak, I was skinny.\u201d She wishes the video would be taken offline. \u201cThat\u2019s not me,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

The award-winning artist and APYACC board member Frank Young, sitting in the gallery beside his wife Yaritji Young (for whom he translates), says: \u201cMe and my wife and all the other artists, we really were sad about that video [of Yaritji\u2019s painting].\u201d He says that The Australian\u2019s narrative around the video was \u201cwrong way\u201d and \u201cnot real\u201d.<\/p>\n

For Ngura Pu\u1e3bka, Yaritji painted the honey ant story passed down to her by her father and grandmother; now she passes it down to her children and grandchildren, who sometimes help with the painting. I ask her and Frank how they felt when they finally saw it on the wall, after a long three years.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are so happy,\u201d he says, \u201cSo proud.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ngura Pu\u1e3bka<\/a> is now open at the National Gallery of Australia, Canberra, until August<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In the history of Australian art, you\u2019d be hard pressed to find an exhibition that has received more…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":598672,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[64,63,44],"class_list":["post-598671","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-australia","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/598671","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=598671"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/598671\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/598672"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=598671"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=598671"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=598671"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}