APY Lands Aboriginal Art

The APY (Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara) Lands is a major Aboriginal local government zone in the inland of South Australia. It was established in 1981 and covers an area over 100,000 square kilometres of arid country in the northwest corner of South Australia. The indigenous people are Pitjantjatjara and Yankunytjatjara language speakers, with about 2,500 people living on APY Lands. There are twenty communities and Homelands centres with the administration centre located at Umuwa.

Some of the main communities on APY Lands include Amata, Indulkana, Kaltjiti (Fregon), Mimili, Pukatja (Ernabella), Pipalyatjara and Watarru. The homelands include Kanpi, Nyapari, Kalka and Yunyarinyi.

Historically the APY Lands had largely been an Aboriginal Reserve since 1921. Ernabella Mission was created in 1937 by the Presbyterian Church at Pukatja and then settlements at Amata and Kaltjiti were set up in the early 1960s. Indulkana was built in 1968 as a centre for government services.

Ernabella is home to the longest running Aboriginal art centre in Australia as it has operated since 1948. It has produced fabrics and woven rugs as well as paintings, ceramics and prints. Today there are over 400 artists working at art centres at Tjala Arts, Mimili Maku, Iwantja, Tjungu Palya and Kaltjiti. The APY Lands have created distinctive and colour-filled artworks that express Anangu connections to culture and Country.

Anangu Artists Exhibition 

Andrea Adamson Exhibition