Kuwaritja New / Fresh: 10th - 31st October 2026

Kuwaritja – New/Fresh presents the work of two emerging Iwantja artists, Wesley Whiskey and Johnny Ulah. Working side by side in the Iwantja studio, the two men have developed their respective bodies of work concurrently, supporting and encouraging one another with the shared intention of presenting their first exhibition together.

Iwantja Arts is an Indigenous-owned and governed Aboriginal art centre located in the rocky desert Country of Indulkana Community on the Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara (APY) Lands in the remote north-west of South Australia. Across generations, Iwantja artists have brought Anangu culture into dynamic conversation with the contemporary world, drawing upon Country, Tjukurpa, popular culture and lived experience to create work that is distinctive, inventive and continually evolving. Kuwaritja, meaning new or fresh, introduces two new voices within this continuum.

Wesley Whiskey’s work is loud, imaginative and immediate. His paintings continue the irreverent momentum established by artists including Vincent Namatjira, Tiger Yaltangki and Kaylene Whiskey (Wesley’s cousin), while developing a visual language distinctly his own. Nostalgic characters from television and popular culture inhabit landscapes alongside native animals, humour and the everyday realities of contemporary community life. Rough, energetic and assured, Whiskey’s paintings are a reminder that Anangu culture is not fixed in time, it is strong, resilient and alive within the contemporary world. “I’ve been drawing since I was young but painting on canvas is a new thing for me. I love movies and cartoons. Watching them makes me laugh and makes me happy. It’s good fun painting some of the characters that I grew up watching on the old tv- like Gumby, the Smurf’s and Garfield. I used to imagine them on Country and think of all the things they would get up to together. Using colour on canvas makes them come alive.”

Johnny Ulah’s paintings emerge from a different but equally grounded place. Before recently beginning to work on canvas, Johnny dedicated himself to performing and teaching inma (dance and ceremony). His painting practice is new, but the knowledge carried within it is not. It extends his longstanding relationship with Country and culture into another form. Johnny is from Tjuntjuntjara in Spinifex Country, his mother’s Country, and belongs to a significant artistic lineage that includes his uncle’s Kunmanara (Bill) Anderson and Kunmanara (Patju) Presley. His paintings of Punu Pulka (Big Tree) speak to the importance of trees not simply as forms within the landscape, but as sources of material, cultural and practical knowledge. “I’m from Spinifex Country, my mother’s Country- Tjuntjuntjara, in WA. Some of my family there were big painters. I paint Punu Pulka (Big Tree). I’m proud to paint punu and show how special punu is; all the things it gives- nulla nulla (hunting stick), punu mpilypa (clap 
sticks), piti. I am enjoying coming in each day and working beside the other men, chatting and drinking tea. I like working hard with the other fellas making good canvas.”

Formally, Wesley and Johnny’s paintings could hardly be more different. Yet both understand their practices as part of a 
longer lineage of strong and diverse Iwantja work, established by pioneering artists including Whiskey Tjukangku (Wesley’s 
grandfather), Peter Mungkuri, Alec Baker and Jimmy Pompey. Their emergence together speaks to the way artistic 
knowledge at Iwantja is continually carried forward, not through repetition, but through new voices, experiences and ways 
of seeing.

Kuwaritja – New/Fresh brings these two artists together at the beginning of their painting careers. Both are storytellers, and 
both draw upon the strength and knowledge of Anangu culture from distinctly different positions. Seen side by side, their 
works celebrate its breadth and resilience - grounded in Country and cultural knowledge, while remaining open, inventive 
and alive to the contemporary world

Exhibition Catalogue (PDF)