Image: National Gallery of Australia, Canberra
The National Gallery of Australia is presenting 'Ngura Puḻka – Epic Country', an artist-led exhibition of major works by senior First Nations artists and collectives from the Aṉangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara (APY) Lands, Coober Pedy and Tarntanya/Adelaide in South Australia. The exhibition runs from 11 April to 23 August 2026 at the Gallery in Canberra, occupying Level 1, Galleries 2–7 and offered free to visitors.
According to the Gallery, the project brings together large-scale paintings that depict Country while celebrating Tjukurpa, described on the exhibition page as Aṉangu law and cultural stories. The Gallery says the works reinforce artists’ connection to Country through their scale, while distinctive designs and stories carry cultural knowledge and knowledge of homelands. The page also notes that women’s and men’s collectives appear alongside individual artists, with approaches ranging from bright colour to a more muted palette.
The exhibition text places 'Ngura Puḻka – Epic Country' within the history of the APY art movement, describing the monumental format as something senior women artists in particular have framed as an expression of cultural freedom. The show’s title, which translates as “big country,” is linked on the site to a statement by Yaritji Young about painting on canvas as a way to invoke cave imagery and share story at a larger scale. The Gallery’s presentation emphasizes the relationship between scale, memory and storytelling rather than treating the paintings as isolated formal experiments.
A key feature of the exhibition is its focus on artists and art centres connected to the APY Art Centre Collective. The Gallery identifies this as a group of Indigenous-owned and governed art centres and individual artists based across the APY Lands, regional South Australia and Adelaide. The exhibition page also includes individual profiles for several participating centres, including Iwantja Arts, Kaltjiti Arts, Mimili Maku Arts, Tjala Arts and Umoona Community Art Centre, each presented as part of the wider artistic ecosystem behind the show.
The Gallery says 'Ngura Puḻka – Epic Country' was originally scheduled to open in 2023 but was postponed during the National Gallery’s independent review into the authorship of works following allegations raised in the media. The exhibition page states that the review validated the authorship of the works and that further independent government reviews have now concluded with no further action being taken. The Gallery now frames the exhibition as a moment to “celebrate the artists and see their work.”
The exhibition is being presented alongside a public program listed on the Gallery site, including 'Teacher Engagement: Ngura Puḻka – Epic Country' on 1 August 2026 and 'Art v Science' within the Friday Art Talks series on 14 August 2026. The page also lists supporters including the Government of South Australia, Create South Australia and QMS Media. The National Gallery’s website places the exhibition among its broader First Nations programming and identifies it as part of the institution’s 2026 exhibition schedule in Kamberri/Canberra.
