Betty Kuntiwa Pumani
A new exhibition at Bundanon reveals Betty Kuntiwa Pumani’s visual language as having evolved over 3 generations, identifying her integrity of seeing as distinctive, exclusive yet inclusive.
Image credit: Betty Kuntiwa Pumani in her studio at Mimili Maku Arts surrounded by her paintings for ma-latja-ma-latja at Bundanon, 2025. Courtesy the artist and Mimili Maku Arts © Betty Kuntiwa Pumani/ Copyright Agency, 2025
“I’m going to speak about my paintings. 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 … 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.”
In Betty Kuntiwa Pumani’s words, she shares her knowledge and her ancestry – the generations of women painting the Witchetty Grub Songline – revealing a spiritual life and Country that are indivisible. The first major museum survey of this significant artist at Bundanon is a testament to the six years curator Rachel Kent has worked with Pumani, first at the Museum of Contemporary Art in the thriving heart of Circular Quay, Sydney, and then in Bundanon, 1,000 sprawling hectares of bush and parkland overlooking the Shoalhaven River, on the south coast of New South Wales. It is an exhibition we are fortunate to witness.
Kent has travelled many kilometres with Pumani over dusty, often dangerous roads in hardy troopies (Toyota Landcruisers), chaperoning bundles of painted linen. They make their way from Mimili Maku Arts to places where Pumani’s storytelling in paint can be shared and connected with across Country. Pumani, born 1963, in Pitjantjatjara/Yankunytjatjara Country, near Perenti Bore, ... Subscribe to read all articles in full
