Image: D Lan Galleries, Melbourne
D Lan Galleries will present ‘Cliff Reid’, an online exhibition surveying the work of the Ngaanyatjarra artist and storyteller from 3–30 September 2026. The presentation will coincide with the gallery’s second showing of Reid’s work at Sydney Contemporary, where the artist will be represented from 3–6 September.
The online exhibition brings together paintings made between 2005 and 2010, including works titled ‘Yirliltu’ (2005), ‘Tingarri’ (2006 and 2008), ‘Tjilikan’ (2007), ‘Wati Kutjarra’ (2009 and 2010), ‘Euro Story’ (2009), ‘Warntjintja Rockhole’ (2009) and a number of untitled paintings from 2010. The selection is described by the gallery as a concise survey of Reid’s practice.
Reid was born in 1947 at Wanarn in Western Australia. The gallery’s account states that, as a Ngaanyatjarra man, he was raised with an understanding of Country as created and maintained by ancestral figures and their laws. At the age of 10, he moved to the Warburton Mission, where he attended school while continuing to travel with his parents across their Country during school holidays.
The exhibition text describes Reid’s early education as shaped by both the mission’s religious instruction and cultural teaching from his family. His knowledge of Tjukurrpa—encompassing Ngaanyatjarra Law, Country and ancestral knowledge—developed alongside his exposure to Christianity. The gallery presents this combination of traditions as central to the visual storytelling that became a defining feature of his work.
After leaving Warburton around 1960, Reid worked as a drover and yard hand near Laverton before returning to Warburton in 1970. He later moved with his wife, Ruby, to Blackstone, where they became closely involved with the community’s developing art centre. Papulankutja Artists was formally established in 2003 and incorporated as an Aboriginal corporation in 2004. According to the gallery, Reid’s work across different media encouraged other men in Blackstone to paint.
The gallery characterises Reid’s paintings as immediate, eclectic, raw and direct. His practice draws on Ngaanyatjarra Law and the imprint of ancient rock art, while also incorporating the human and cosmological dimensions of Tjukurrpa. The exhibition text says that Reid’s approach avoided overworked technical elements in favour of the communicative force of visual storytelling, producing a distinctive language for ancestral narratives and cultural pedagogy.
At Sydney Contemporary, Reid’s survey will form part of D Lan Galleries’ presentation at booth B15, Carriageworks, alongside works by artists including Emily Kam Kngwarray, Gunybi Ganambarr, Noŋgirrŋa Marawili, Tiger Palpatja, the Spinifex artists and Paddy Nyunkuny Bedford. The online exhibition runs through 30 September 2026.
