Media Releases

Betty Kuntiwa Pumani’s paintings reveal a shimmering landscape of red earth, bright blue waterholes and stippled white tobacco flowers. They represent Antara, her mother’s Country in the Aṉangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara (APY) Lands in north-western South Australia, and Tjukurpa storylines centred on maku, the Witchetty Grub.

Matrilineal connections inform Pumani’s painting practice, with stories passed down through generations in the depiction of Antara. Reflecting this lineage, four works within the exhibition by the artist’s mother, Kunmanara (Milatjari) Pumani and sister, Kunmanara (Ngupulya) Pumani, highlight the importance of family connection and intergenerational storytelling.

Continuing this legacy, a major collaborative work, ‘Antara’ (2020), by the artist and her daughter, Marina Pumani Brown, is also featured. Through their distinctive approaches to colour, a shared language is revealed in the work which represents one of several collaborations by mother and daughter over a two-year period. These strong matrilineal threads resonate with the exhibition’s title – a Pitjantjatjara term meaning ‘those who come after’ – carrying the understanding that what we do now already belongs to future generations, connecting ancestral past with the future, through ongoing care for Country and culture.

Betty Kuntiwa Pumani said: “Over many years, I have painted many stories. Some are small works. Others are large, carrying the same story across many canvases. Stories of Antara, stories of the Maku Tjukurpa — the Witchetty Grub Songline. Now, they come together to be exhibited. Side by side, these works will be seen — joined together in this major exhibition and book, each one sharing its part of the story. It fills me with pride and joy to see them here, gathered together to be shown.

I’m thrilled to see my older paintings and my newer paintings together. To show together with my extended family – my older sister, my mother, my daughter. Generations of women painting the stories of our Country. I’m proud to show these works together at Bundanon Art Museum — proud to bring our family forward through this exhibition and to honour our Tjukurpa. It is a special thing to be able to do. And for this exhibition, I painted one more canvas for the next generation. I was thinking about the women who came before me, and those who will come after me. This is for future generations, for those children to learn from.”

Pumani’s Bundanon survey is expanded by a new monographic publication with interpretative essays, interviews in Pitjantjatjara language by the artist, colour reproductions of exhibited works and detailed documentation of her new commission, available for pre-order and released in August.

Leading Melbourne-based artist David Sequeira’s solo exhibition, The Shape of Music, brings together four bodies of work in diverse media, including a soundscape and a major new commission for Bundanon. Sequeira’s creative practice reflects a longstanding interest in colour, geometry and sound. Ideas of presence, endlessness and contemplation inform his delicate watercolours on music manuscript sheets – their overlain geometric forms creating chords of intense colour.

His new commission, ‘Form from the Formless (Under Bundanon Stars)’ (2025), comprises 30 music stands, each bearing manuscript sheets with hand-painted imagery of the glittering Bundanon night sky, alongside his signature geometric forms, and accompanied by the musical compositions of Elena Kats-Chernin and Hari Sivanesan. This work heightens Sequeira’s profound understanding of the connections between form and sound, shape and music.

Two earlier works highlight Sequeira’s exploration of colour intensity and tonal variation in print-media and glass, working with the Australia Print Workshop, Melbourne and the Glass Studio Jam Factory, Adelaide. Sequeira’s unique-state prints consider the vitality of colour, advancing and receding before the viewer’s eye. His vast accumulations of transparent glass vessels present colour and form as constantly changing yet connected, suggestive of the slow unfolding of time.

Expanding Sequeira’s exhibition is the rarely shown work ‘A Sacred Conversation’ (2007), which refers to the Italian mystic and poet, Saint Francis of Assisi. This work is shown in dialogue with eight works on paper from Arthur Boyd’s renowned suite ‘St Francis of Assisi’ (1964-65) and a related painting, selected by Sequeira from the Bundanon Art Collection.

David Sequeira said: “I am influenced by Tantra painting and miniature painting from India, Western modernism and the writings and paintings of 12th and 13th century mystics. I practice geometry every day. Through the interplay of circles and lines I learn a lot about time. Beyond the distinctions of the past, present and the future, history and life become more malleable through geometry and colour – it’s how I see and understand the world”.

Rachel Kent, CEO, Bundanon said: “Betty Kuntiwa Pumani is a visionary artistic and cultural leader, her paintings inextricably linked to her mother’s Country, Antara, on Aṉangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara (APY) Lands. It was a great honour to work with Betty on her major commission for ‘The National’ – her largest and most ambitious work, spanning ten meters in length – in 2020; and now, five years later, to bring her art to Bundanon for her first major museum survey. Betty has created a new triptych for Bundanon, its stippled white colouration capturing the tonal shift in her recent practice and the maku storyline which informs her wider practice. Works by her mother, sister and daughter reflect the enduring power of women’s practice and intergenerational knowledge-sharing through the exhibition.

David Sequeira has spent three decades exploring the visual language of geometry and colour through his art. Utilising music manuscript sheets and sound, his new Bundanon commission is a first, bringing musicality and the direct interplay of sound and image to the fore; and drawing direct inspiration from Bundanon, its natural environment and night sky.

Through their embrace of diverse artforms and newly commissioned work, these significant exhibitions reflect Arthur Boyd’s vision for Bundanon as a ‘working arts centre’ and place for ideas, contemplation and connection in the present. We are thrilled to present these two solo exhibitions for Bundanon’s Season 2 program”.

Bundanon’s 2025 Season 2 is accompanied by a dynamic public program. Highlights include:

• Stay Weekends: Themed weekend getaways offering immersive experiences in art, culture, and nature. 2025 Stay Weekend include:
  • Stay | 19–20 July 2025
  • Wild Winder Weekend | 26–27 July 2025
  • Riverscape | 16–17 August 2025
  • Architecture | 6–7 September 2025
  • Stay | 1-2 November 2025
  • Stay | 6–7 December 2025
• The Boyd Music Series (May–November 2025): Showcasing a collection of the world’s leading chamber musicians and renowned soloists from western and eastern classical traditions, presented in collaboration with Sydney Opera House. The next concerts in the series include a special performance by the German a cappella ensemble Sjaella comprising six ethereal women voices, on Saturday 5 July and a first time collaboration between four-time ARIA Award winning classical guitarist Slava Grigoryan and celebrated London-based violinist Emily Sun on Saturday 16 August.
• (Not So) Blue Light Disco (Saturday 26 July): A 90s inspired party curated by multidisciplinary artist Aunty Jonny Hawkins, featuring DJ Lorna Clarkson, artist Rosie Deacon, and performers Glenn Twenty (Duncan Fellows), Cheryn Frost & Emma Kew, Rosie Allways and Miss Murry Codd.
• Art Making Workshops (July, August, September, Various times): Bundanon offers workshops throughout the season with artists including Rosie Deacon, Amber Hearn, Amber Wallis and the Bundanon Learning Team.
• Science Symposium 2025 (Friday 15 August 10am–3pm): Bundanon’s Science Week Symposium returns with a day of talks and displays on hidden ecosystems, hosted by Clarence Slockee, and featuring leading STEM experts.
• Twilight Feast| Bundnon x Old Salt Distillery (Saturday 16 August, 5.30pm): A Twilight Feast crafted by Executive Chef Douglas Innes-Will and Old Salt Distillery’s Terry & Michelle Robinson. Featuring fire-inspired dishes, local produce and paired cocktails and wines.
• Margaret Pont On Boyd & St Francis Of Assisi (Saturday 6 September, 11am): Art historian and author Margaret Pont discusses the legacy of St Francis of Assisi and his influence on Arthur Boyd, in connection with David Sequeira’s solo exhibition at Bundanon.
• Guided Colour Meditation with David Sequeira (Saturday 6 September, 10am): Artist David Sequeira leads a meditative experience of colour in his solo exhibition at Bundanon.
• Long Lunch | Bundanon x David Sequeira (Saturday 6 September, 12.30pm): Artist David Sequeira and Executive Chef Douglas Innes-Will collaborate on a celebratory long lunch that blends colour memory and flavour.
• Designing Home | Ceremonial Spaces & Relationality (Sunday 7 September, 11.30am): Leading First Nations built environment practitioners Dr. Michael Mossman, Jack Gillmer-Lilley and Professor Emily McDaniel discuss HOME, Australia’s presentation at the 2025 Venice Architecture Biennale, delving into how Aboriginal knowledge systems offer pathways toward more collaborative and sustainable futures.
• Tina Baum On Betty Pumani’s Work (Saturday 20 September, 11am): Tina Baum, Senior Curator First Nations Art, National Gallery of Australia, explores the matrilineal themes in Betty Kuntiwa Pumani’s paintings.