Kungka Tjuta - Many Sisters

Kungka Tjuta – Many Sisters presents recent paintings from APY Lands from artists Alison Munti Riley, Meredith Curley, Janice and Venita Woods. The powerful Women’s stories of the Seven Sisters Jukurrpa and the Kungka Kutjara ancestral story highlight the strength of sisters in culture and in family.

Kungka Kutjara (Two Women) Dreaming story is described as a ‘big story’ that intersects many language groups in the Central and Western Desert regions. The songline details the journey of two ancestral women as they travel across Country, changing form into animals or elements to pass through certain areas. The movements of the two women create features of the landscape as they walked, rested, and performed ceremony.

In the Seven Sisters Dreaming – Kungkarangkalpa Tjukurpa the sisters travelling across the Country, discovered they were being followed by an devoius Tjakamarra man. The sisters travelled west to escape, constantly moving. As they travelled they created the country and landscape, the rockholes and sandhills.

The APY Lands are the Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara Lands, located on the north western corner of South Australia, along the borders with Western Australia and the Northern Territory. The APY Lands cover over 100,000 square kilometres, and have about 1880 Aboriginal residents, with the majority of those being Pitjantjatjara language group.

Artists from the APY Lands have made a significant contribution to the Aboriginal Desert art movement in the past decade, from communities including Amata, Fregon, Indulkana, Mimili, Pipalyatjara, and Pukatja (Ernabella). Alison Munti Riley lives between the communities of Ernabella where she was born, and Amata. She has been an artist for twenty years, learning from the mother Betty Munti, and has exhibited nationally as well as in Europe and USA. Many of Alison’s paintings depict Kungkarangkapa, the Seven Sisters Jukurrpa from her homelands. This major Dreaming story depicts the star cluster Pleaides and crosses and connects many Aboriginal language groups around Australia.

Meredith Curley is a Pitjantjatjara artist from Ernabella, daughter of artist Imitjala Curley. Her paintings depict the traditional stories of Ngintaka the Lizard ancestor and the Seven Sisters Dreaming story – Kungkarangkapa Jukurrpa. The painting style from the APY Lands is often characterised by the use of strong and intense colour, with a diversity of subject and style and motif generated by the traditions of over 400 artists of the area. The exhibition runs until 20 October 2026.