Betty Kuntiwa Pumani is a senior Pitjantjatjara artist from Mimili on the Anangu Pitjantjatjara
Yankunytjatjara (APY) Lands in north-west South Australia. She was raised on her family’s
homelands around Antara, a granite hill landscape and significant cultural site that forms
the enduring subject of her practice. Pumani belongs to a significant matrilineal lineage of
artists and cultural custodians; her mother, Milatjari Pumani, was a founding member of
Mimili Maku Arts.
Since commencing her painting practice in 2007, Pumani has developed a highly distinctive
visual language to articulate Antara and the Maku Tjukurpa (Witchetty Grub Songline). Her
paintings are characterised by dense rhythmic mark-making and expansive fields of red and
white, conveying both the physical topography and the spiritual force of Country. Over the
past decade, her work has increasingly embraced monumental scale, extending ancestral
narratives across large-format canvases.
Pumani is a two-time recipient of the General Painting Award at the Telstra National
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Awards (2015, 2016) and was awarded the Wynne
Prize by the Art Gallery of New South Wales in 2017. In 2021, she was commissioned by
the Museum of Contemporary Art Australia to produce a major large-scale work for its
permanent collection. In 2025, her practice was the subject of a major survey exhibition at
Bundanon, malatja-malatja (those who come after).
Her works are held in important public and private collections in Australia and
internationally, including the National Gallery of Australia, Art Gallery of New South Wales,
Museum of Contemporary Art Australia, Fondation Opale, and the Aboriginal Art Museum
Utrecht.
Selected Solo Exhibitions
2024 Titutjara – Ongoing, Alcaston Gallery, Melbourne
2023 Tjukurpa mulapa nyangatja, Alcaston Gallery, Melbourne
2022 kunpu naranyi (standing strong), Alcaston Gallery, Melbourne
2021 Nganampa Walytja: Antara, Alcaston Gallery, Melbourne
2019 Nganampa Walytja – Our Family, Alcaston Gallery, Melbourne
2018 Malaku Angkupai Antaraku, Alcaston Gallery, Melbourne
Selected Group Exhibitions
2025 Betty Kuntiwa Pumani: malatja-malatja (those who come after), bundanon, Illaroo
2025 Tjunguringanyi – Come Together, Ames Yavuz, Sydney
2021 The National, Museum of Contemporary Art Australia, Sydney
2020 kulata tjuta, Musée des Beaux-Arts de Rennes, France
2017 Tarnanthi, Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide
2017 Tjukurpa Kunpu Ngaranytjaku, Aboriginal Signature Gallery, Brussels
2013 Kinara Pulkapakani, Gallery Gabrielle Pizzi, Melbourne
2012 Kapi Warku, Aboriginal and Pacific Arts, Sydney
2010 Piiny-Piinypa Tjukurpa, RAFT Artspace, Alice Springs
Selected Awards
2021 Finalist, Hadley’s Art Prize, Hadley’s Orient Hotel
2019 Winner, Len Fox Painting Award, Castlemaine Art Museum
2018 Highly Commended Award, Hadley’s Art Prize, Hadley’s Orient Hotel
2017 Winner, Wynne Prize, Art Gallery of New South Wales
2016 Winner, NATSIAA General Painting Award, Museum and Art Gallery of the NT
2015 Winner, NATSIAA General Painting Award, Museum and Art Gallery of the NT
Selected Collections
Aboriginal Art Museum Utrecht, ArtBank, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Bendigo Art
Gallery, Castlemaine Art Museum, Fondation Opale, Kaplan and Levi Collection, Museum
of Contemporary Art Sydney, National Gallery of Australia, Parliament House Art Collection,
The Corrigan Collection of Aboriginal Art, University of Wollongong Art Collection