Kunmanara (Patju) Presley

Kunmanara (Patju) Presley was born in the 1940s at Itaratjara, an important site between the community settlement of Watarru and Kalayapiti in the Great Victoria Desert. He is a senior Pitjantjatjara Law man with great knowledge of the geography of the Western Desert and the associated Tjukurpa. His intimate knowledge of the country is directly related to survival in this beautiful but sometimes harsh environment learned from the generations of his ancestors.

Connections between the Land, the provider of food, water and shelter and the Tjukurpa a spiritual understanding of the world are finely interwoven in his paintings, creating works of an elegant abstraction. Each work is related to a specific site and ancestral beings and is strongly based on his experience and perception of the Law and the Land. When he was a young child he lived a traditional lifestyle walking along Tjukurpa tracks that linked sacred sites and water sources. From the tjilpis (old men) he learnt the ways of life in the desert and Anangu social order, law, culture, Tjukurpa and ceremony. Patju first learnt about Christianity from Mr Wade, the missionary who came to the desert on camel preaching the Bible and giving out tea and damper. When the mission was established Patju spent some time there learning English to read and write hymns and Bible stories. Patju trained to be a preacher at the mission at Ernabella. He is also a strong cultural man who practices traditional cultural business and inma (ceremonial singing and dancing), carves punu (ceremonial and utilitarian objects) and hunts malu (kangaroo), kalaya (emu), kipara (bush turkey) and rabbit.

In his paintings Mr. Presley refers to many of the Tjukurpa of the country of the Great Victoria Desert including the Wati Kipara (Bush Turkey), Wati Kutjara (Two Water-Snake Men), Kalaya (Emu), Wati Pira (Moon Man) and Minyma Kutjara (Two Sisters). His images are visual representations of the epic journeys and creation stories of the country. References to important landforms, rockholes and Tjukurpa tracks implicitly evoke the tjukuritja beings (of the dreaming), their interactions and activities. References to features in the country by desert artists are heavily loaded with complex symbolic meanings and interconnected layers of cultural references.

Solo Exhibitions
2023 Wakura, Patju Presley commission for the Australian Embassy in Washington D.C., USA.
2022 PATJU Melbourne Art Fair with Vivien Anderson Gallery. Melbourne. VIC.
2018 PATJU, Vivien Anderson Gallery, Melbourne, VIC
2007 Patju Stanley Presley New Work, Flinders Lane Gallery, Melbourne, VIC.

Group Exhibitions
2025 Rawa Tjunguku - working together a long time, Redot Fine Art Gallery, Singapore.
2025 Tiny and Precious, Agency Projects, Collingwood, VIC.
2024 Spinifex People: Art and stories from Pila Nguru, WA Museum Boola Bardip, Perth WA.
2024 From the Spinifex Country, Aboriginal and Pacific Art, Sydney NSW.
2024 Spinifex 2024 - Short Street Gallery, Broome, WA.
2024 Uwankara Utulu - All Together, DLan Contemporary New York, USA.
2023 Tarnanthi 2023 - Festival of Contemporary Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art, Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide SA.
2023 Sun and Shadow: Art of the Spinifex People, Japingka Gallery, Fremantle WA.
2023 New Work from the Spinifex Arts Project, D’Lan Contemporary, Sydney Contemporary.
2023 Sun and Shadow - Art of the Spinifex People, Raft Artspace, Alice Springs, NT.
2023 Artists of Tjuntjuntjara, Aboriginal and Pacific Arts, Sydney, NSW.
2023 New Work from the Spinifex Arts Project, D’Lan Contemporary, New York.
2023 Voir l’Invisible, Museum MAAM in Angoulême, France, in conjunction with Aboriginal Signature Estrangin Gallery.
2022 Claim the Land, Aboriginal Signature Estrangin Gallery, Belgium.
2022 Living Water, Raft Artspace, Alice Springs, NT.
2022 Short Street Gallery Broome WA.
2022 Telstra The National Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Art Award, Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory.
2022 Spinifex Arts Project 25-year anniversary show, Vivien Anderson Gallery, Melbourne, VIC.
2022 Aluni - Resonance - Aboriginal Signature Estrangin Gallery, Brussels, Belgium.
2021 Spinifex Wati Tjuta, Aboriginal and Pacific Arts, Sydney.
2021 KING & WOOD MALLESONS CONTEMPORARY FIRST NATIONS ART AWARD, fortyfivedownstairs, Gallery 45, Melbourne VIC.
2021 Making a Mark, ReDot Fine Art Gallery, Singapore.
2019 “Wati: Men from Spinifex” Aboriginal and pacific Arts, Sydney, NSW.
2019 Explosion, Aboriginal Signature • Estrangin Gallery, Brussels, Belgium.
2018 Pila nguruku kapi walkatjara – Painted Waters of Spinifex Country, ARTKELCH at Skulpturenpark Wesenberg, Wesenberg, Germany.
2017 Spinifex Arts 20th Anniversary, Japingka Gallery, Fremantle. WA.
2017 Tarnanthi - Festival of Comtemporary Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art, Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide. SA.
2017 Spinifex Ascendent Short Street Gallery, Broome, WA.
2017 Shut Up and Paint, National Gallery of Victoria International level - 17 September 2016 – 12 February 2017.
2017 Spinifex: Aboriginal Paintings from the Robert Kaplan and Margaret Levi Collection, Nevada Museum of Art, Reno, Nevada. U.S.A.
2017 Wüste – Meer – Schöpfermythen, ARTKELCH at Rautenstrauch-Joest-Museum, Köln, Germany.
2016 Pila Nguratja - In Spinifex Country Vivien Anderson Gallery, Melbourne VIC.
2016 Rawa Nyinanyi- Unbroken. Outstation Gallery, Darwin. NT.
2016 Exposition Spinifex Arts Project, Aboriginal Signature Estrangin Fine Art, Belgium.
2016 Community - Spinifex Art project - Aboriginal Signature Estrangin Gallery, Brussels, Belgium.
2016 LORE The visual language of cultural Identity, Raft Artspace, Tasmania.
2016 Tjungutja – Art of the Spinifex Collaborative. Redot Fine Art Gallery, Singapore.
2015 Spinifex Arts Project 2015. Aboriginal and Pacific Arts, Sydney, NSW.
2015 Tarnanthi - Festival of Comtemporary Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art, Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide. SA.
2015 “Irruntju Wati – Men of Irruntju” Aboriginal and Pacific Arts, Sydney, NSW.
2014 Spinifex Tjukurpa ReDot Gallery, Singapore.
2014 Pila- Spinifex Land. Outstation Gallery, Parap, Darwin. NT.

Awards
2017 Port Hedland Art Awards - finalist

Collections
ART GALLERY OF SOUTH AUSTRALIA, ADELAIDE, SOUTH AUSTRALIA (MENS COLLABORATIVE).
ART GALLERY OF WESTERN AUSTRALIA, PERTH, WA.
KLUGE-RUHE ABORIGINAL ART COLLECTION OF THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA, USA.
MURDOCH UNIVERSITY COLLECTION, PERTH, WA.
NATIONAL GALLERY OF VICTORIA, MELBOURNE, VICTORIA.
QUEENSLAND ART GALLERY, BRISBANE, QLD.
STEVE MARTIN PRIVATE COLLECTION, NY, USA.
THE ART GALLERY OF NEW SOUTH WALES, SYDNEY, NSW.
THE CORRIGAN COLLECTION, AUSTRALIA.
THE KAPLAN-LEVI COLLECTION, USA.
THE NATIONAL GALLERY OF AUSTRALIA, CANBERRA, ACT.
UNIVERSITY OF QUEENSLAND ART MUSEUM, BRISBANE, QLD.