Attendees at the National Gallery’s opening on Saturday of the Ngura Puḻka exhibition, from the Aṉangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara lands, Coober Pedy and Adelaide, got more than they bargained for when APY Elder Frank Young joined artists George Cooley and Sandra Pumani at the microphone.
“You white fellas play around with my story. Get away,” Young told those present, visibly angry about the controversy that had preceded the exhibition, following media allegations that white arts workers had interfered with works by artists from Central Australia’s APY communities.
Ngura Puḻka, which brings together 30 large-scale paintings by a total of 49 artists, had originally been scheduled to open in 2023 but was postponed while the National Gallery conducted an independent review into the authorship of the works.
While he offered a brief, polite apology for speaking so bluntly, Young did not soften his message. He accused the media of “hurting poor people like me… while I have nothing in my pocket,” and demanded, “Why do rich people play around with me?”
Switching between English and his native Pitjantjatjara, he underscored that this was his story from his culture and said it beggared belief that outsiders would interfere.
He reminded the audience that, in his own ancient culture, the kind of offence caused to his people would once have demanded retaliatory punishment. “I don’t play around,” he said.
Young’s fiery speech elicited a stunned silence before the Prime Minister’s Special Envoy for the Arts, Susan Templeman, spoke about the federal government’s cultural policy and the National Gallery’s efforts to uphold its “First Nations First” principle.
She then officially opened the exhibition, before the APY artist-elders who had travelled to Canberra for the occasion led attendees into the gallery with dance and song.
Ngura Puḻka is at the National Gallery of Australia until August 23. Admission is free.
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