Tarnanthi

Don't miss seeing Kumarangk at @ace.gallery.adelaide , closing this Saturday 4 April. Featuring a mix of traditional and contemporary art mediums, Kumarangk showcases existing paintings, sculptures and weavings alongside ambitious new works in weaving and soft sculpture by multiple generations of Ngarrindjeri women artists. At the centre of this exhibition is the remounting of Aunty Sandra Saunders’ historic Hindmarsh Island Collection, a series of mixed-media acrylic paintings and wire-based works that document and depict the events of the Hindmarsh Island bridge controversy from the Ngarrindjeri women’s position, combined with a major new painting commission from her that reflects on events from today’s perspective. Kumarangk also displays newly commissioned and pre-existing works from other Ngarrindjeri women artists, including Aunty Ellen Trevorrow, Aunty Betty Sumner, Sonya Rankine, Carly Dodd and the Mardawi collective of Ngarrindjeri women weavers. Among the artists are women who were leaders of the resistance to the Hindmarsh Island bridge development (Trevorrow, Saunders and Sumner) as well as a new generation of artists (Dodd, Rankine and the Mardawi collective) who have inherited the legacy of community organising and continuous culture. 🎨 Sandra Saunders, Ngarrindjeri/Boandik people, South Australia, born Millicent, South Australia 1947, Nature's Justice, 2025, Port Lincoln, South Australia, oil on hardboard, 130.0 x 75.0cm; photo: Nat Rogers.

📣 Calling all experienced First Nations visual art curators and artistic directors 📣 AGSA is seeking expressions of interests for the role of Artistic Director, Tarnanthi (due 4 May), and is recruiting for the position of Curator, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art (due 8 May). Expressions of interest and applicants must identify as Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander. Apply now at our link in bio. 📸 Saige Prime

This Friday evening, you’re invited to join Pitjantjatjara and Adnyamathanha artist Patrick Ferguson at the @nationalwinecentre to celebrate his solo exhibition ‘Warnduwatya wirti inhaadi (Very good wood here)’. Meet the artist, take in the exhibition and enjoy free wine tastings, roaming canapés and live music at Unwined Uncovered: Sensational Sparkling @nationalwinecentre 💥 This is the last day to view the exhibition! ___ Meet the Artist Friday 27 Feb 2026 5-7pm Ground Floor, National Wine Centre Artspace Free ___ Master carver Patrick Ikaringanyi Ferguson presents shields, weapons and other traditional works made from punu (wood) collected from his homelands and crafted using traditional and innovative techniques. Ferguson learnt woodcarving skills from his grandmother when he was young, and for the past twenty years it has been his passion. During trips to his Country in northern South Australia, he carefully selects timber and other materials to create his unique pieces. His work has been exhibited across Australia and internationally. 📸 Patrick Ferguson, Pitjantjatjara/Adnyamathanha people, South Australia, born Broken Hill, New South Wales 1976, Battle shield, Hookina Creek, Yapala Station, Hawker, South Australia, wood (Red River Gum)

Next Friday, join proud Wangkumaran artist Crista Bradshaw and Yankunytjatjara poet, artist and writer Ali Cobby Eckermann for a lunchtime conversation exploring Crista’s residency with the City Archives, developed through The Guildhouse Collections Project + City of Adelaide. Taking place on the final day of her exhibition, Between the Archives: an Indigenous Perspective, the talk offers insight into Crista’s research within the City’s photographic archives and how stories of place, memory, and mapping on Kaurna Yarta informed her work. Ideal for arts audiences, students, creatives, and anyone curious about Adelaide’s cultural history, the talk invites you to see how a First Nations artist brings archival collections into new light. Bring your lunch, settle in at ART POD, and join us for a thoughtful and engaging discussion. 📅 Fri 13 Feb, 12.30-1.30pm 📍ART POD, 25 Pirie St, Adelaide ⚡Register: https://loom.ly/2t0kNwY Photo: Lana Adams @cristabradshawart @alicobbyeckermann @guidhouse_au @cityofadelaide

Thank you to everyone who joined us last week for a special Tuesday Talk with Shane Cook and Jo-Anne Driessans as part of the Catapult + Tarnanthi Mentorship. Shane and Jo-Anne generously shared their personal journeys with art and mark making, how their mentorship developed, and the collaborative exchange that has informed new photographic artworks. @scart.adl @driessensjoanne @agsa.adelaide @tarnanthi Keep an eye out on the AGSA channels for a chance to listen back via podcast! Catapult + Tarnanthi is presented in partnership with the Art Gallery of South Australia. Tarnanthi is presented by the Art Gallery of South Australia with Principal Partner BHP and support from the Government of South Australia. Photos Lana Adams.

Woven within Stars reflects stories that connect Country and culture. It includes new and existing works by nine First Nations artists from regional South Australia. Curated by Tarnanthi Regional Curator Marika Davies, this is the second exhibition from the award-winning Regional Tarnanthi program, presented in partnership between Country Arts SA and Tarnanthi. This iteration features the work of Roy Coulthard, Jonas Dare, Regg Dodd, Patricia Fatt, Donny McKenzie, Regina McKenzie, Lavinia Richards, Jenna Richards and Vera Richards. See Woven within Stars at @fabrik.arts until 1 Mar 2026. 📸 1: Jenna Richards working on a large-scale ink painting in Galinyala (Port Lincoln), South Australia, 2025; photo: Nat Rogers. 2: Luritja/Lower Southern Arrernte and Kuyani/Walpi artist Regina McKenzie working in the studio in Hawker, South Australia, 2025; photo: Nat Rogers. 3: Vera Richards painting portraits of her family in the studio in Galinyala (Port Lincoln), South Australia, 2025; photo: Nat Rogers

As Too Deadly: Ten Years of Tarnanthi comes to a close, we mark the end of an exhibition shaped by deep cultural knowledge, artistic excellence and generosity. Beginning with a powerful launch on North Terrace, the exhibition unfolded through works created by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander artists nationwide.   We thank the artists, communities and collaborators whose contributions made this milestone exhibition possible, and everyone who took the time to engage, reflect and connect with the works.   📽️ Dinosaur Disco

'Before Captain Cook, before whitefellas came, Aboriginal people always knew their Country, and their sacred sites. That’s why we’re painting over the names of places, and the borders and boundaries on the maps – they’re not ours, we know our own land.' In Tjukurpa Kunpu Mulapa, Mumu Mike Williams and Sammy Dodd spoke to an unbroken lineage of Aṉangu knowledge, an understanding of Country that predates borders. Here, the artists have painted over Australia Post mailbags using motifs that frame the works as acts of cultural assertion: using language, material and image to reaffirm Aṉangu sovereignty, continuity and authority over Country. See Tjukurpa Kunpu Mulapa in Too Deadly: Ten Years of Tarnanthi until 18 Jan 2026. 📸 Mumu Mike Williams, Pitjantjatjara people, South Australia, born Inturjanu between Kenmore Park and Pukatja (Ernabella), Aṉangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara Lands, South Australia 1952, died Mparntwe (Alice Springs), Northern Territory 2 March 2019, Sammy Dodd, Pitjantjatjara/Yankunytjatjara people, South Australia, born Winpiranganyi, South Australia 1946, Tjukurpa Kunpu Mulapa, 2016, Mimili, Aṉangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara Lands, South Australia, © the artist courtesy of Mimili Maku Artists.

Master carver Patrick Ikaringanyi Ferguson presents shields, weapons and other traditional works made from punu (wood) collected from his homelands and crafted using traditional and innovative techniques. Ferguson learnt woodcarving skills from his grandmother when he was young, and for the past twenty years it has been his passion. During trips to his Country in northern South Australia, he carefully selects timber and other materials to create his unique pieces. His work has been exhibited across Australia and internationally. See Warnduwatya wirti inhaadi (Very good wood here) at the National Wine Centre until 27 Feb 2026. 📸 Patrick Ferguson, Pitjantjatjara/Adnyamathanha people, South Australia, born Broken Hill, New South Wales 1976, Battle shield, Hookina Creek, Yapala Station, Hawker, South Australia, wood (Red River Gum)

These large-scale body adornments made by Maree Clarke are made from river reeds, both natural and cast glass, alongside feathers, echidna quills and cast-glass kangaroo teeth. Traditionally, river reed necklaces were gifted to visitors passing through Country as a sign of friendship and safe passage. Clarke is a renowned multidisciplinary artist, educator and curator who has spent over thirty years researching and reviving Aboriginal cultural practices from southeastern Australia. Working with younger generations of her family, she reclaims traditional techniques to create significant contemporary works. See Maree Clarke's work in Too Deadly: Ten Years of Tarnanthi until 18 Jan 2026. 📸 Maree Clarke, Yorta Yorta / Wamba Wamba / Mutti Mutti / Boonwurrung people, Victoria / New South Wales born Swan Hill, Victoria 1961, Black river reeds necklace with galah feathers, waxed thread, 2019, Melbourne, river reed, feathers, waxed thread, Purchased through the Barrie and Jane Vernon Roberts, gift for the development, maintenance and display of the Rhianon Vernon Roberts Memorial Collection 2021

Mokuy are spirit sculptures made by Nawurapu Wunungmurra of the Dhalwangu clan of northeast Arnhem Land, featuring Yirritja moiety triangular cloud designs known as wangupini. These forms are also connected to larrakitj (memorial poles) and relate to his Gurrumuru homeland. Yolŋu sacred songs tell of the first rising clouds on the horizon, signals of the Macassan praus arriving and departing with seasonal winds. These movements mirror cycles of grief, death, and rebirth, where sunsets, clouds, and changing seasons recall loss and the return of spirit. In 2016, Nawurapu Wunungmurra applied these revived triangular cloud designs to mokuy for the first time, drawing on Gurrumuru miny’tji and Yolŋu law. The motifs speak to the water cycle of souls, from ocean to cloud to rain, and the ongoing renewal of life. See Mokuy in Too Deadly: Ten Years of Tarnanthi until next Sunday 18 Jan. 📸 Photos by Saul Steed

The miṉḏirr (conical baskets) of Milingimbi embody the region’s distinguished weaving traditions, carried by artists who continue to shape and share this cultural practice. Yurrwi (Milingimbi) is home to a community of renowned weavers, including Helen Ganalmirriwuy Garrawurra, Ruth Nalmakarra Garrawurra, Margaret Rarru Garrawurra, Susan Balbunga and Mandy Batjula Gaykamungu. Miṉḏirr are more than functional objects, they embody cultural knowledge - they demonstrate specialised knowledge and skills required to harvest, process and dye the pandanus, including the creation of unique colours such as mol (black). See these works on display as part of Too Deadly: Ten Years of Tarnanthi. 📸 1 & 2: Margaret R. Garrawurra, Liyagawumirr-Garrawurra people, Northern Territory, born Galiwin'ku (Elcho Island), Northern Territory c.1940, Miṉḏirr (conical basket), 2020, and Boḏuk miṉḏirr (Gamaḻaŋga conical basket), 2020, Yurrwi (Milingimbi), Northern Territory, ©Margaret Rarru Garrawurra courtesy of Milingimbi Art and Culture. Photos: Grant Hancock. 📸 3 & 4: Helen G. Garrawurra, Liyagawumirr-Garrawurra people, Northern Territory, born Galiwin'ku (Elcho Island), Northern Territory 1955, Djirriḏiḏi miṉḏirr (Garrawurra conical basket), 2020, and Biḏi'yunawuy miṉḏirr (painted conical basket), 2020, Yurrwi (Milingimbi), Northern Territory, ©Helen Ganalmirriwuy courtesy of Milingimbi Art and Culture.