APYACC NGA Review Statement

2nd August 2023

Statement from Artists of the APY Lands

Nganampa Kurunpa Kunpu - Our Spirit is Strong

We welcome the findings of the National Gallery of Australia’s review into artworks created by APY artists for our ‘Ngura Pulka’ (Epic Country) exhibition. In the findings, the attack on our integrity and our art has been rejected and thrown into the rubbish bin where it belongs. We are very happy our exhibition can go ahead.

“White hands on black art” is a false story and it always was.

We the artists who have signed this statement have maintained a dignified silence during a long and painful time when our integrity, our livelihoods, our families, and our art have been under sustained attack.

After so many untruths, damaging and wrong allegations made against us, the investigation put out today by the National Gallery of Australia puts things right. We have known in our hearts from the beginning this would be the result.

When the review panel came to see us, we spoke the truth to them. They carefully looked at the evidence, tested the allegations and have made their findings. Now the truth is there for everyone to see and read.

Chair of the APY Art Centre Collective, Sandra Pumani, said the artists of the APY Lands have been vindicated.

“Tjukurpa is not only in paintings. We grow up in the middle of Tjukurpa; it’s people, it’s song, it’s country, it’s everything. Our Tjukurpa holds us up. Only Anangu can really know the meaning of it, the inside of it. It comes down from our ancestors. Our Tjukurpa is not for people outside to debate or decide - what is it and where it lives is our people’s call. This report has heard and upheld Anangu voices loud and clear. “

We note the NGA Review Panel’s comments regarding its investigation: “We sought, but were not provided with, evidence in support of these claims in sworn form. In the course of the investigation, we established important inconsistencies in this evidence including inconsistencies identified by the objective record of dated photographic evidence. These inconsistencies meant that some of the most important allegations of direct and improper interference were, in our view, unsustainable. It also had the effect of significantly

undermining the reliance we could place on the remainder of those contradicting allegations.”

Yarijti Young, who was filmed without her consent said her reputation has been damaged by the false things about her work said:

“People have said that workers know my Tjukurpa and paint on my canvas in the wrong way. The workers are ngurpa (culturally naïve). They don't know my Tjukurpa. They work for me. I am their boss. No one paints on my canvas the wrong way. The NGA review asked me about it and I told them. They are the first ones to ask me about it, before making a story. They have held up my voice and I am happy about that.”
Yaritji Young

Our intention for Ngura Pulka was always to be a once in a generation exhibition and body of work. We started our work on this project in 2019. The opportunity was inclusive for all artists and Art Centres across the APY Lands and Coober Pedy. The best contemporary art will always be celebrated for aesthetic and intention but most importantly to us, our best work marks a time in history. Ngura Pulka is history in the making.

Several artists who have made masterpieces for Ngura Pulka including Kunmanara Mungkuri and Kunmanara Mitakiki, have now left us. They sit with the ancestors and Anangu leadership who started the APY Art Centre Collective which we the artists own and run to this day. They are watching us, supporting us.

“The success of our business is exciting and thrilling- we want to step into that success, to really be able to inhabit it. We want to know what our Tjukurpa is capable of in this way. It’s like flexing our muscles! We thought this is what Australia wanted to see Aboriginal people doing- leading, succeeding, growing business opportunities for themselves. We are so proud of our business and our project Ngura Pulka and we hope everyone will come along with us in celebrating this success story.”

Said Zaachariaha Fielding, APY artist and winner of the prestigious 2023 Wynne Prize.

APY Lands artists are thrilled that we can now share our extraordinary body of paintings through the National Gallery and then to the world. It is with immense pride that we can share Ngura Pulka and our storytelling and our art will continue.

“Our Tjukurpa is a roadmap to our livelihood and future. It gives us identity, ownership and strength to continue our journey. This journey is in both worlds - our cultural world and in our current new-found world. The establishment of the APYACC has given us a new model to continue raising our standard of living, in all communities.”

Umoona artist and APYACC Director George Cooley said.

APY Art Centre Collective General Manager Skye O’Meara said:

“The attack on the integrity of the artists and their work, which has been debunked today, was an opening shot in a deliberate effort to destroy the Collective and its significant artistic, cultural and economic achievements.

“I look forward to having each and every one of the subsequent unfounded allegations made against the Collective tested in the same rigorous way the NGA Review has scrutinised the initial claims. I am confident the outcome will be the same.

“The elders who supervise and guide the Collective have been an invaluable source of wisdom, strength and guidance in a testing period. We are stronger today and will emerge stronger again when the SA-led review is completed.”

To our friends and supporters, this year you have shown us your heart. Your personal distress in our pain and your efforts to protect and support us is something we will never forget. We have an enormous depth of gratitude to our industry friends and peers in Australian and international contemporary art, you are the most important leaders in our field. You have stood by us. This will never be forgotten.

Sandra Pumani, Zaachariaha Fielding, Alfred Lowe, George Cooley, Rhoda Tjitayi, Nyunmiti Burton, Jennifer Ingkatji, Daisybell Kulyuru, Margaret Richards, Tuppy Goodwin, Matjangka Norris, Joyce Robin, Ingrid Treacle, Sally Scales, Yaritji Heffernan, Robert Fielding, Puna Yamina, Betty Pumani, Beverley Cameron, Carolanne Ken, Mantuwa George, Karen Hatches, Vicki Cullinan, Betty Chimney, Priscilla Singer, Trisha Singer, Rosalind Tjanyari, Rene Sundown, Barbara Moore, Tjungkara Ken, Naomi Kantjurinyi, Tjimpayi Presley, Iluwanti Ken, Yaritji Young, Frank Young, Freda Brady, Beverly Burton, Janie Kulyuru, Muna Kulyuru, Anne Jacob, Cynthia Charra, Meredith Treacle, Rita Rolley